Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
MIAMI (June 05, 2018) – The Miami office of global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will—the creative visionary behind such award-winning projects as the L’Oréal Research & Innovation Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Miami Dade College Academic Support Center, and Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University in Saudi Arabia, announces the completion of its new studio, located at 2800 Ponce De Leon Blvd. in Coral Gables. The 13,700-square-foot space showcases some of the firm’s best-in-class workplace design strategies, including sustainability, biophilia, health and wellness, and integrated technology.
Designed by Elina Cardet, interior design director of Perkins+Will’s Miami studio, along with her team, the light-filled, open-floor space allows for collaboration among designers of multiple disciplines, while supporting their sense of well-being.
“We reimagined our workplace as a single, integrated creative studio—one that promotes connectivity, encourages creativity, and strengthens our sense of community,” Cardet says. “Our diverse team of designers thrives when they can work together, exchange ideas, test new concepts, and share feedback, so designing a workplace that supports interactivity was a top priority.”
Lawrence Kline, managing director of Perkins+Will’s Miami office, says the new studio is a “living laboratory” that reflects best practices in workplace design while also improving productivity and creative outcomes. “Our new space allows us to innovate, explore, and discover. It inspires and motivates us. All of this ultimately leads to better designs for our clients.”
Health and Well-Being:
Showcasing the firm’s ability to create spaces that promote health and well-being is the “Studio in a Garden” concept. Wellness is promoted via a tangible and immediate connection to nature, including air-cleaning plants that will grow to create an indoor garden, framing the uninterrupted 360-degree views to city, ocean and sky, allowing for a more stimulating work environment.
Active design strategies include sit-to-stand desks and premium ergonomic seating for everyone. The new location within the pedestrian-friendly neighborhood of downtown Coral Gables also takes into account staff commute times and offers a diverse choice of services and amenities. Within-office amenities include a wellness room with sink and daybed, a lactation room for nursing mothers and new shower to encourage the team to bike, skate, or walk to work. The project is targeting LEED v4 Gold Certification and 2 FitWel Stars.
Collaboration and Creativity:
Throughout the space, the multi-generational team’s needs, such as individual mobility and different work styles, are supported by full wireless connectivity, and movable, reconfigurable furniture. Within this open layout, a central bar of varied programmatic functions for both front and back of house come together to form the “Idea Hub,” a series of different types of collaboration rooms that merge into one central location. Designed to be modular and space-use effective with state-of-the-art technological equipment, each room is activated by full height “Idea Walls,” which are either writable with magnetic glass or use acoustic and tackable panels. With smart-building controls, the open collaboration zone is completely reconfigurable to host design charrettes, or “Design Talks,” neighborhood meetings, immersive digital presentations, or focused and quiet work.
“Our new workspace exhibits all the transformational and future-ready design attitudes we bring to all our clients and project,” explains Pat Bosch, design director of the Miami office. “We thrive in being able to showcase and share with our clients and our community our vision of a thoughtful, humanistic approach and our attention to high performance. This technique is paramount in our design culture. Our office is an environment that fosters creativity, leadership and ingenuity as well as creates an incubator for leading design that is unique to our city and region.”
“Our own office culture is now supported by a wide-range of choices for collaboration areas, including a relaxed, fun, multipurpose lounge where our famous, daily “cafecito time,” Friday breakfasts, happy hours, our ping pong tournaments and annual holiday feasts take place. With these welcoming places to meet, we will be hosting A&D community leadership events, sponsoring thought-proving panels, symposia and cross-industry multi-disiplinary events,” says Cardet.
Technology:
Nearly every aspect of the new office is technologically advanced, including acoustically balanced conference rooms and waiting areas. Centrally located within the “Idea Hub” and completely transparent, the “Maker Space,” or model room, will showcase two 3D printers, laser cutter for digitally printed models and prototypes as well as models crafted by hand.
At the forefront of digital practice standards, Perkins+Will has incorporated Virtual Reality (VR) as part of the design process. “I think VR was seen first as a fun technology gadget, but we recognize that it is a powerful tool in our industry, so we wanted to dedicate space and create a showcase for it,” says Kline. The new studio features two spatious VR lounge areas with double display screens, with flexible and re-configurable, modular soft seating, where designers and clients can immerse themselves in a 3D digital environment at the early stages of projects.
“As a creative lab where our clients are part of the design process, our studio is future-ready with two virtual reality lounge areas, where our digital practice continues to evolve,” says Cardet.