For Sappi North America, a subsidiary of a sustainability-minded global producer of wood fiber products, Dyer Brown – who originally designed the Boston headquarters more than a decade ago – was reengaged to reduce the office size, consolidate to a single 18,000-square-foot floor plate, and refresh and update the aesthetic to better represent the culture and brand image to visitors.
To better understand the needs of end-users, the design team distributed written surveys to all 40-plus employees, producing additional insights into the global company’s evolving culture and workflow. The design concept that emerged would focus on flexibility as a primary goal, with an aesthetic that is light and bright and bridges traditional and contemporary sensibilities.
Design and renovation efforts were primarily concentrated on one large corner of the floor plate comprising the reception area, conference rooms and employee pantry – areas that are the most visible to visiting clients and accommodating most team-based work efforts. The largest conference room – featuring abundant daylight and harbor views – was transformed into a “breakout boardroom,” which can be subdivided by a folding wall to create two smaller conference rooms.
Nearby, the folding full-height-glass wall of a smaller conference room retracts completely to become a functional extension of the adjacent pantry, producing a “town hall” environment for all-hands meetings. In these and other meeting rooms wood partitions and overhead baffles introduce biophilic warmth.
An open ceiling painted matte black adds industrial flair to the pantry, behind an elegant spray of LED pendants. The brand-inspired palette of colors and finish materials place muted blues and greens in wall paint, upholstery, and a subway tiles backsplash. These palettes echo the modish waiting area, where banquettes finished in rich grey velvet feature integrated USB ports for device charging, under a mix of pendant and linear LEDs and walls finished with cork coverings, living moss installations, and a corporate logo in brushed metal.
Team:
Architecture and interior design: Dyer Brown
Client: Sappi N.A.
General Contractor: Corderman& Company
MEP Engineering: Vanderweil Engineers
Structural Engineer: H+O Structural Engineering
Lighting Design: Dyer Brown
Lighting Rep: Boston Light Source
Furniture: Creative Office Resources; Dyer Brown
Green walls: Cityscape
Material Used:
1. Carpet: Bentley
2. LVT: Mohawk Group
3. Paint: Benjamin Moore
4. Wallcovering: Innovations USA
5. Tile: Genstone
6. Laminate: Nevamar – Panolam
7. Solid Surface: Caesarstone
8. Upholstery: Carnegie, Brentano, Designtex, Pallas
9. Ceilings (baffle & ACT): Armstrong
10. Film: 3M (Di-Noc& Window)
