Feeling Bullish: Arcturus
Techentin Buckingham Architecture puts modern twists on traditional design elements for the new digs of venture-capital firm, Arcturus.
Meghan Edwards -- Interior Design, 6/6/2007 12:00:00 AM
When venture capital firm Arcturus moved from Downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena, California, they wanted a space that reflected the casual formality of their versatile client base, which ranges from dot-commers to investors and bankers. Designed by Los Angeles–based Techentin Buckingham Architecture, the new offices therefore aim to "simultaneously strike a balance between adventurous, unconventional office space that dot-com companies are used to, and the staid conservatism associated with fiscal responsibility and bankers," says the firm's principal, Warren Techentin. The 3,000-square-foot space includes four offices, a group workstation, conference room, reception area, waiting area, and secretary's desk.
During Techentin's first meeting with Arcturus, one of the partners wore a striped Paul Smith shirt whose modern pattern and colors became the design inspiration for the project. Establishing what Techentin calls "the aesthetic ambitions and goals of the company," the shirt's influence is most prevalent in the design of the reception desk. Its bold stripes mimic the shirt, and simultaneously incorporate the surfaces and colors of the traditional banking world: wood paneling, desktop linoleum, fluorescent green pinstripes in the color of money, old green glass banker's lamp shades, starched white shirts, and glow-in-the-dark Plexiglas that represents "burning the midnight oil." At 48 inches high, the desk unites the functional considerations of concealing paperwork and clutter with a minimalist aesthetic. "The simultaneous ability to conceal yet enable all of the clutter associated with office work is why we think of it as everyday minimalism: a shield of design to hide the reality of clutter in all of our lives," Techentin explains.
The unique reception desk and its combination of traditional materials blends into the contemporary feel of the entire office. Techentin's muted minimal palette is accented with punchy colors such as the green wall behind the reception desk and the orange shelving unit in the conference room. The circular pattern embellishing the solid, vertical-grain oak paneling is derived from the Little Bear constellation, from which the firm's name originates. This constellation's dominant star, Arcturus, once served as a point of navigation for travelers at sea, and refers to the firm's skillful navigation of investment strategies, meant to inspire a "bearish" feeling of security (although they describe their market principles as modestly "bullish," a term used to describe a dynamic approach to expansion that promises to raise share prices). Everything—from the pronounced black window frames and floor-to-ceiling partitions to pieces like the Louis Ghost Chair and Ferruccio Laviani Bourgie lamps—speaks to the office's duality of contemporary and traditional design.
The space's casual minimalism responds to the changes in business culture, which have accompanied California's growing technology business. "Downtown, everyone wore suits," says Techentin. "In Pasadena, workers wanted to dress down in response to the casual formality that their clients—scientists, programmers, researchers, often young—exhibited." The results introduce a bit of unexpected fun in the workplace—in the form of green walls, bold stripes, and uncharted constellations of form and material.
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