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Confidential Life Sciences Company
By : HOK
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Interior Design : Grand Winner
Categories : Office / Office 5,400 - 54,000 sq.ft. (500 - 5 000 sq. m.) : Platinum Winner
Categories : Office / Co working : Gold Certification
In relocating their Canadian headquarters during the COVID-19 pandemic, our pharmaceutical client aimed to create an innovative workplace that reflects their leadership in life sciences.
Project Objectives and Challenges
Tasked with producing forward-thinking solutions, the design team set out to challenge traditional office norms and adapt to inevitable changes in order to reduce the client’s real estate footprint by 40% and transition to a high performance, optimized layout. The design needed to prioritize the cultivation of community and togetherness through a hybrid model with shared, flexible spaces that inspire collaboration and emphasize a positive sense of change.
The Solution
The design principles—Elevated Experiences, The Collective, and Future Forward—guided the creation of a multi-use space supporting socializing, collaboration, and individual work. The entry experience sets the tone with a warm, branded workplace featuring unique forms, curated artwork, and distinct objects. The adjacent co-working lounge serves as a welcome area and alternate work point, fostering connection among staff. The café space encourages social gathering, fostering connections.
Incorporating Future Forward, the design prioritizes adaptability and flexibility with collaborative focus zones, heads-down workspaces, and enclosed collaboration settings. Sustainable materials and planters improve indoor air quality, and approximately 45% of the lighting comprises reused fixtures, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability. Efforts to reduce waste included retaining base building ceilings and repurposing base building LED lighting fixtures.
Challenging the traditional notion of reception spaces, the design eliminated a dedicated receptionist and integrated a virtual concierge check-in system. Technology enabling hybrid collaboration is integrated throughout the space, supporting equitable hybrid meetings, quick collaboration, and seamless unassigned experiences.
Sustainability and Wellbeing
The planning approach focused on WELL best practices, ensuring ample daylight, circulation paths promoting movement, and easy access to water and refreshment spaces. The design team developed a space that addresses industry and organizational changes by understanding specific work behaviors through surveys, interviews, and studies.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles are seamlessly integrated into the project, underscoring HOK’s steadfast commitment to creating better spaces for all. Our initiatives encompass engaging diverse talent, offering wellness resources, implementing accessible design, and embracing neurodiversity. The spaces are thoughtfully designed with neurodiversity in mind, supporting both hypersensitive and hyposensitive individuals.
Sustainability practices include selecting materials with green chemistry properties, reclaimed elements, and energy-efficient appliances. Circular economy concepts are evident in custom, locally hand-crafted harvest tables, the custom kitchen island and select artwork pieces commissioned by a local artist.
The design achieved a 40% reduction in lighting power density, meeting AIA 2030 targets. The overall impact is a workplace that supports new ways of working, promotes collaboration, and fosters a positive employee reaction to returning to the office. HOK’s comprehensive DEI initiatives and commitment to sustainability demonstrate a dedication to creating inclusive, diverse, and environmentally responsible work environments.
Collaboration
