Gaming

A software company in North Carolina was growing and needed a new building. We dove in to what their goals were, how they were going to grow, what their employees need, and want, in order to deliver their specific company needs.

Goals

Create a new corporate campus to provide 500 seats near 15,263 sf.

  • Provide ample unconventional amenity spaces for employee use and business development

  • Catalyze a spatial identity that is unique to “x” within the existing community fabric

  • Create dynamic and purposeful spaces that optimize collaboration among teams

  • Blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor workspaces

  • Create a foundation to “x’s” identity, brand, and culture

Vision Session

Without knowing goals, there’s no map, no finish line, and no accountability.

The session was based on several inputs.

  • How will this project, once complete, help you realize your mission as a company.

  • What are the existential measures of success

  • What are the key example places you’re imagining and what makes them successful

  • What are the key example places you’re trying to avoid and what makes them unsuccessful

  • What’s on your wish list.

How will this project, once complete, help you realize your mission as a company?

·       It will bring everyone together so they can be the team it was designed for

·       People are near the people they need in order to be successful

·       It is a great next step for our growth. We will be able to be around each other easier and break roadblocks of proximity

·       Create a team environment, place to work, where people enjoy their workplace; to the people they work with, “feeling part of something,” that raises their energy levels and happiness

·       Entertaining gaming experience

·       Increased teamwork

Project Goals Activity Outcomes

What are the existential measures of success?

·       Timelines

·       Unity

·       Curb appeal

·       Wow factor at entrance and outside

·       The most functional space that encourages and pushes collaboration among our teams

·       Does this improve our culture

·       To grow into space without taking away from us running the business

·       Right types of space for different types of employees

What are the key example places you’re imagining? What makes them successful?

·       Modern but minimalistic

·       Open atmosphere

·       Easily accessible and inviting

·       Parking accessibility

·       Functional places that are open and large

·       Care about their people

·       Separate departments but have togetherness

·       Cafeteria

What are the key example places you’re trying to avoid? What makes them unsuccessful?

·       Cramped spaces

·       Generic buildings

·       Uninviting spaces

·       Closed tight spaces

·       Dark and gloomy spaces

·       Places without parking and accessibility

·       Avoid too flashy, arrogant

·       Noisy wall neighbors

·       A long building whereby time is spent getting from point A to point B

·       Too many people in one area/office

What’s on your wish list?

·       Large conference rooms

·       Good parking

·       Lighted drives

·       EV chargers

·       Offices that allow for easy collaboration with each other, that proximity matters a lot. From onboarding new employees to long term people overhearing each other’s conversations.

·       We need space (rooms) that we can have private conversations.

·       Ponds

·       Gymnasium

·       Nice landscape

·       Easy to navigate to outdoor spaces

·       Quality parking

Focus Groups

With staff input, they become part of the solution and feel connected.

  • Personal workspace (your desk, tools, visual and acoustical privacy concerns)

  • Department workspace (how you use the space devoted to your department)

  • Overall common spaces

  • Confirmation of programming needs

Online Survey

An online survey was given to staff, covering topics like preferred adjacencies, privacy needs, new spaces, and place-related questions. Categories included Demographics, Operations, Place, Stuff, Culture, Engagement, DEI, Happiness, and Community Impact.

While not all responses will inform physical design, they can highlight non-physical issues such as communication or processes.

Understanding what design can or cannot address is crucial.

Image Study

People feel more connected to their organization when they feel they’ve contributed, especially when it’s visual.

To help with engagement, we taped up precedent images all over their existing workplace by place those conceptual images by their actual space. Staff were then able to vote on the images they felt were most like their company and had the ability to discuss those design concepts with their peers.

Conceptual Design

As part of the team, I was primarily in charge of creating new workplaces standards and how those would relate to the new square footage, adjacencies of departments, new ancillary spaces, and overall interior layout.

The team produced a final conceptual package that included a total campus layout, the building itself, and schematic design of the exterior forms and shapes reflecting the interior adjacencies.

Results

The project was finalized after this conceptual design phase.

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