70 Franklin Street
Fennick McCredie Architecture Studio
After 10 years of constant growth, we finally decided it was time to give ourselves a little room to breathe. FMA thrives on the interaction of our employees. It’s this tenant of the firm which allows our ideas to grow, so for the design of our own office it was important to maintain our ability to collaborate freely. At the same time, however, we also needed the space to buckle down and do our work.
At first viewing, the new space was a city of cubicles, carpet, and acoustic tile. Selective demolition allowed light from the generous windows at the perimeter to travel deep into the space of our studio. Downtown Boston became our walls. Expensive HVAC and lighting systems were maintained, as was a portion of the existing ceiling, which was strategically cut back to create a floating ‘island’ at the ceiling plane. This decision allowed us to focus the budget on the spaces that define our design practice: those for flexible collaboration where teams and clients can work together to produce the best work.
A series of long pin-up walls define the interior space of the studio. These constantly changing surfaces display our progress on various projects and encourage conversation about ongoing work within and between project teams — and occasionally unsuspecting office visitors. Group tables, tall work counters, conference spaces, and private rooms are interspersed within the studio. Our long reception desk and work table were custom designed to become focal points of activity in the office, reflecting our “big-table” approach to welcoming good ideas from all sources. At any given time, teams and individuals are free to seek out the spaces that best suit their needs– all the while preserving the office culture that has defined who we are from the beginning.
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