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Its Own Best Advertisement

Aided by TVS Interiors, an Atlanta ad agency switches from private offices to open workplaces

Monica Geran -- Interior Design, 1/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

When in the course of business events it becomes necessary to assess one's competitive standing, chances are that the appraisal process will start with the office. It is after all, the showplace of operations. And so it happened with WestWayne, a multimedia advertising agency headquartered in Atlanta. The management, under the direction of CEO Ben West, concluded that the time had come either to overhaul and update the extant space or to pack up and move elsewhere. A competition for architectural talent was held—and won by TVS Interiors. (The acronym derives from Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, the parent company.) Acting as project spokesmen were senior associate and lead designer Lucy Aiken-Johnson and interior designer Cresta Martin.

Joint studies were initiated early, Aiken-Johnson and Martin relate, for there was no urgent need for WestWayne to spring into instant action. The firm's lawyerly decor in gradations of gray was somewhat dull but decidedly remediable. Space was adequate. The only real handicap was being unable to unify the various departments, randomly scattered, into one contiguous entity. Thus real-estate options were reviewed, and friendly as well as rival ad shops were vetted. There was, one learns, no need to sneak in on the sly: Atlanta advertising people, it appears, consider themselves members of one fraternity. Then comparisons were made to ascertain what might be adapted or should be avoided. Finally, alternatives having been weighed, it was decided to forget about rejuvenation and, instead, to rent 66,000 square feet on two and a half floors in the 23-story Proscenium Building, just then being finished by none other than TVS. Keeping it all in the family, one might say.

Three years had passed in the interim, allowing time also for all kinds of surveys, interviews, polls, and ancillary studies among employees—there are about 180 in all—so as to learn how best to design work spaces that spur production and boost morale. There were questionnaires, focus groups, review sessions, and daily log entries kept by selected staffers, everything subject to analysis and evaluation by company appointees and a psychologist. "Where were you when you had your best ideas?" is cited as a representative Q, the A reportedly providing clues for buoying creativity. Another resolution generated was aimed not only at visually promoting WestWayne's advertising skills via arresting in-house exhibits but also at advancing the agency's Southeast leadership position to national preeminence. Developing a "vision of interaction and integrating" plus "fluidity, flexibility, and connectivity" were still other goals.

Being charter tenants in the building, the WestWayne group, occupying the 14th through 16th floors, was able to request and obtain stairs rising three flights between the elevator core and bays with windows looking over Peachtree Street. Clustered around the three landings are lounge and reception areas, a café with kitchen, and conference and meeting rooms. Additionally, the stairwell offers a close-up view of rear-projected photos showing varied advertising feats stacked one atop the other. Another trophy display—competitors' samples, literally for better or worse, are sometimes included—covers a gallery wall.

Each floor is horizontally scored by a splayed core sector contoured with traffic lanes running parallel to open workstations that, in turn, adjoin perimeters. Components of workstations are grouped within 8 foot–diameter circles. Drywall supports built-in bookcases and shelving; acrylic primary screens, both linear and curved, take the place of partitions. Maple is used for custom work surfaces and ledges. Clusters consist of three or five units, their key components, i.e. desks, easily maneuverable by occupants wishing to redirect their sight lines. There are some 50 differently sized and shaped meeting rooms for two to full-force occupancy. Private offices for top brass number six. Workstation pods add up to 202. All this in a firm that, before relocation, housed close to 90 percent of its populace in individual—yes, one for each—door-fronted rooms.

Encapsulating the uncommonly handsome installation's key attractions are features seen during passage from elevator to east-facing bay. Stepping off the elevator, the client, visitor, or whoever follows a dramatic sequence leading through a "school-bus yellow" semi-tunnel (it's as if it had been split vertically, leaving just one tall half) to the stairs rising from the lounge. A few steps forward is the five-sided bay, offering wondrously fine views. On and from the stairs, one sees staff members on the move, captivating—the designers say—the "hustle-bustle feeling" of the place, clearly rife with synergy.