In 2015 Unispace had designed and built a 7000 SF office for Seabury Capital at 222 South 9th street. Within a year, consolidation had eliminated a large portion of the business in Minneapolis and the remaining members needed to downsize their space. They enjoyed the experience and the outcome of the original project, so they contacted our team again. I had not been involved with the initial design but having been elevated to Design Principal for the local studio I was introduced to the “Two Jeff’s” who were the remaining decision makers for this project. Being that they loved the location and wanted to stay in the building, but needed a lot less space, they had to move. We examined the current floor plan, but the way the suite laid out on the 32nd floor there was no way to carve out an appropriate space that would meet their needs going forward. They were disappointed but understood the situation and thankfully, the building had an offer for them. The space that was presented was on the 4th floor which didn’t provide the same dynamic views they were used too, but the adjusted rent rate and tenant improvement allowance they were offered was enough for them to sign the lease.
The space we were working with had been vacant for years, and it showed. The ceiling and lighting were dark and dated, while the existing offices only had small sidelights. At one point someone had spent a lot of money on this space, with stone flooring in the halls and tall custom base, trim details, crown molding from a different era. It was hard for our clients to conceive that this suite could be transformed to create the clean and contemporary office they were seeking. We utilized our 3D visualization tools to help the guys understand that we could evolve the space to create the fresh, clean, light and bright, office they envisioned. An environment they would enjoy working in plus help them attract and retain the talent they needed to continue the success of their business.
At Unispace it was standard practice to model all our projects in Revit, not only to produce construction documents, but throughout the design development process. As with all our work, the model was the basis for exploration through 3D fit planning, schematic design, design development, documentation and presentation. All iterations and options remained in the model until the project was complete because, as was the case again this time, our clients came full circle back to a form of the original design we presented. We worked through numerous layouts, with various finish schemes and furniture configurations, so that the client understood what the outcome would be, in full detail and felt certain when they made their final decision. In the end, we designed and built a dynamic suite that was not only functional and beautiful but delivered on our clients schedule and budget.
