Project Description
Moving to the eighth floor of the Pacific Building in downtown Seattle allowed Digital Kitchen to reimagine their work flow within a new headquarters, leading to a design that fosters both creative collaboration and private production. Led by design principal Kirsten Murray, Olson Kundig introduced a number of programmatic enhancements to the creative agency’s new office, yielding a cohesive space that upends traditional workplace distinctions between private and public work areas. The resulting workspace is refined and minimal with a central core of editing suites surrounded by a light-filled, open ring of flexible meeting and work spaces.
“With this project, I was attempting to think about social space a little differently – how can the informal space become the front door? How can the workspace become more communal? I wanted to create new adjacencies between people, ones that occur in other building types like residences, but aren’t as common in workplaces.” –Kirsten R. Murray
The design for the 8,000-square-foot office curated existing elements of the space, reusing existing materials where possible, and exposing structural elements to create a sense of volumetric richness inside. Murray also introduced a number of new spaces to the program, namely the central core of private photography and video editing suites, which is clad in dark wood and anchors the otherwise light-filled, open-plan office. This central “terra firma” core also contains new storage areas for the company’s digital servers and technology equipment. Perforated metal screens incorporated throughout this central hub offer transparency to otherwise insulated spaces.
Opportunities for interaction in the main workspace, which offers expansive city and terrace views, are found in a constellation of breakout spaces for employees to gather and collaborate, including a long work counter and flexible seating areas. A key design feature is the live pin-up wall, which is integral to the company’s creative visioning work. A new central conference room and smaller meeting rooms offer areas for private gatherings. Compared to Digital Kitchen’s previous compartmentalized office, this new highly adaptable workplace encourages the agility and malleability essential to creative design work.
Project Team: Kirsten R. Murray, FAIA, Design Principal; Nathan Boyd, Architectural Staff; Debbie Kennedy, LEED® AP ID + C, Interior Design