Samuels & Associates – the company that spearheaded the revitalization of Boston’s Fenway neighborhood – embraced the adaptive re-use of a former auto repair shop in the Fenway for itsnew headquarters. The design team honored the building’s industrial rootswhile creating public and private spaces that reflect the company’s hands-onculture.
Design Challenge:
A highly successful development, leasing, and property management company, Samuels & Associates has long been active in the Fenway, spearheading many urban renewal projects to help turn this formerly neglected neighborhood into a vibrant, welcoming, and pedestrian-friendly community. Samuels chose two floors above retail establishments in a former automotive shop to create its headquarters in the now bustling Fenway.
Transformingan industrial building into a high-end workplace posed a number of design challenges.
1. Working around concrete structural columns required separation and definition of spaces by function, including event space where projects can be celebrated and clients entertained. There was a need to accommodate multiple confidential meetings, and to create a way for guests to exit discreetly without passing through the common waiting area in reception. And the basics— functional office space for 100 employees and managers— was imperative.
2. While developing the spatial planning for the office, the design team wanted to acknowledge the building's industrial past.
3. The team also sought to reflect Steve Samuels’ dynamic personality. Incorporating his varied interests and activities outside the company—which include film production and rock music—enlivened the space.
Solutions to Design Challenge:
The new headquarters occupies the second and third floors within the original footprint of the building.
1. The design team broke the two floors into public spaces on the second floor, with private offices on the third. New walls on the second floor create a central reception lobby/event space, which is surrounded by four glass-fronted conference rooms, one with a private entry/egress door for client use. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors provide access to an open rooftop deck that serves as a warm-weather entertainment/relaxation space and brings daylight into the reception area.
On the third floor, workstations surrounded by glass-fronted offices are adjacent to the communal kitchen and breakroom. A long wall of clerestory windows anchors the breakroom space and introduces natural light and views.Clean white walls and painted brick throughout create a contemporary aesthetic authentic to the roots of the space.
2. Accents throughout celebrate the building’s industrial past, including a collection of heavy machining tools displayed opposite the elevators at the second-floor entry, surveying tools in the reception area, sandblasted raw concrete ceilings, and polished and stained original concrete floors.
3. Stairway landings feature custom hand drawings of company projects printed on metal. In a playful celebration of Steve Samuels’ interests in film and music, the hallway leading to his office is adorned with movie posters and a collection of antique microphones.
Personal touches, in combination with creative, strategic spatial planning, capture the unique personality of the company in a multi-faceted, functional headquarters.
