Beyond the glass door: the best architects' offices are designed from the inside out

Residential Architect, April, 2004 by Cheryl Weber

When Ken, Hinton, FAIA, and Seab Tuck, FAIA, decided to design new offices for their staff of 15, they wanted something out of the ordinary. So the owners of Tuck Hinton Architects, Nashville, Tenn., bought the Civil War-era Elm Street Methodist Church and transformed the interior with such cool touches as a studio in the tall sanctuary, candelabras for nighttime lighting, and, in the vestibule, a Louis Kahn quote that reads "Architecture must have the religion of light." The message fits the firm and the old church. "Since we work diligently to have natural illumination in our buildings, that quote is sort of sacred to us," says Hinton.

Like clients who want to make a personal statement with their houses, upwardly mobile architects are doing everything their budget will allow to create signature work spaces. Ideally, the offices become a life-size marketing piece that says something about a firm's creativity and most deeply held values. Given its historic landmark status in the community, Hinton says his divinely inspired building has become a terrific marketing tool.

One of the challenges of designing an architectural office, though, is that it is both an office and a workshop. Rather than a tidy stage set, it's a place where models must be built, work in progress must be pinned up for critique, and a gazillion granite samples stored. So designing the ultimate advertisement also raises issues of in-house efficiency and productivity, not to mention staff morale and office culture.

Those fundamentals were at the forefront of Steven Ehrlich's mind when the Culver City, Calif., architect converted an old dance hall to studio space six years ago. Ehrlich, FAIA, ticks off the design's strong features, meant to inspire his staff of 18: a large, light-filled atelier with "room for the mind to soar and expand," original antique maple floors, a model-building shop in an attached former garage, and a 14-foot-square glass rollup door that opens a meeting room to a private terrace containing a 100-year-old rubber tree. Workstations are nothing fancy, just birch plywood partitions and linoleum desktops on solid doors. "It's simple, but a real treat for us," Ehrlich says. "It's a warm, industrial space. Clients can see what we're doing, and the work speaks for itself."

place and provenance

In searching for projects to feature in his recent book, The Designer's Workspace: Ultimate Office Design, author Douglas Caywood, Associate AIA, called upon a surprising number of nationally known, award-winning architects who said their offices were not ready for prime time (see "Office Space" sidebar, right). Many of the firms, he says, occupied rather generic space in strip malls or office towers. Their offices were viewed as little more than a staging area for production drawings.

Moule & Polyzoides, Pasadena, Calif., lies at the other end of the spectrum. In 1999, when they were contemplating a move, partners Elizabeth Moule and Stefanos Polyzoides put a great deal of thought and energy into acquiring a building that went to the core of the practice's identity. Deeply committed to New Urbanism, they looked for a location in downtown Pasadena near the train lines. The search led them to a building that architect Wallace Neff had designed for his own offices in 1927. Although the building was not for sale, Moule and Polyzoides persuaded the owners to sell it as a poorly managed red-tag property. The firm did a seismic upgrade and renovation, which included installing green electrical and HVAC systems and low-energy-use fixtures and appliances, and using recycled or renewable materials. The architects filled a courtyard with drought-tolerant plants. When the land next door went up for sale, they bought it, too, and put up a 10-unit apartment building with a courtyard and fountain, adding landscaping that improves the building's connection to the street. "The office is a perfect example of how we think one can live in Southern California," Moule says. "In a walkable neighborhood, near transit, in a lovely old building with green technologies."

The building's floor plan required some compromises, though. Moule & Polyzoides occupies the offices largely as Neff did. He had designed the space to house his staff, his contractor, and several other businesses, whereas Moule & Polyzoides' 27 employees use the entire building. That means the principals and administrative staff need to work in some of the separate, smaller offices. "It is only a partially open plan, not as much as we would like," Moule says. "On the other hand, it's an office of diverse character and intimacy that is quite charming. It feels residential and very Comfortable--great qualities for an office of any kind."

Fred Fisher, FAIA, Frederick Fisher and Partners Architects, Los Angeles, feels the same way about his offices, designed and occupied for years by the noted architect A. Quincy Jones. Fisher, who oversees a staff of 25, wasn't actively looking to relocate from his warehouse studio in Santa Monica. But as be drove by the building on his way to work one day, he noticed a for-sale sign. Of 1950s vintage and well-known in the community, it was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Fisher says. "I knew the owner, Quincy Jones' widow, Elaine, and I was fortunate to get it before a nearby property owner bought it to tear down for parking."