1. Home
  2. Design
  3. Studio objekts: an office that looks like home

Studio objekts: an office that looks like home

A project intended to recreate domestic comfort without sacrificing the style of the brand

SkB Architects

Studio objekts: an office that looks like home
By Editorial Staff -

“We were inspired by recollections and memories of places that welcomed and surprised us – that hotel bar we didn’t want to leave, the gracious kitchen, a cozy living room.” SkB Architects has designed an office and showroom for eclectic furniture and accessories firm objekts. They continue, “We were also inspired to create a place for creative minds". The result is a hybrid space that blurs the boundaries between work, design, and socializing.

Objekts, SkB Architects ©Nicholas Worley, courtesy of SkB Architects

The approximately 6500 square foot (600 m2) project is on the ground and first floors of a 1940s building in Seattle’s fashionable Belltown neighborhood. The architects faced a dual challenge: on the one hand, to create a workplace in step with the times that can adapt to the needs for flexibility and comfort that emerged from the pandemic (with many people now used to the comfort and convenience of working in their own home), and, on the other, to create a space that goes beyond the standard concept of showroom while expressing the unconventional and eclectic spirit of objekts. For its own “home,” the company was looking for a place where it could design its products that would inspire creativity and teamwork. But it also needed a place to display its products in a different way in a space that was also a place for people to meet.

By focusing on a mixture of styles and functions, the studio created a space with vintage tones and a modern yet timeless aesthetic.

 

>>> Discover the Monclaire flagship store in Milan.

 

A space for eclecticism and imagination

Objekts, SkB Architects ©Nicholas Worley, courtesy of SkB Architects

The premises occupy two levels. On the upper floor is a showroom, a coffee bar for customers, entertainment spaces, a staff kitchen and lunchroom, a library, a conference and meeting room, and an open plan work area. Furnished with mirrors and comfortable armchairs, the ground level is like the foyer of a boutique hotel rather than a shop.

The starting point for the design of all the interiors was multifunctionality: with no fixed workstations, objekts staff can work anywhere, either in contact with customers or in more private areas. At the same time, the showroom is a welcoming and engaging space for customers, who feel part of the brand’s creative process.

A palette of delicate tones has been used, with warm whites, light and dark grays, dark wood, and natural stone to create a neutral background to set off the furniture and accessories. Particular emphasis has been placed on certain points with the use of quirky, colorful materials that catch the eye and create visual contrasts. This has been done on the stairs, for example, which have carpet with floral motifs, as well as the walls with sections of exposed stone, and in the bathrooms with their black and teal wall coverings. The contrasts continue with checked wool carpeting and pinstripe walls, and vintage-style lighting combined with an elegant salmon pink glass conference table.

Objekts, SkB Architects ©Nicholas Worley, courtesy of SkB Architects

Everything in the space recalls the style of the company and its aim of undermining uniformity to make space for telling a story – or stories – with flexible, eclectic design.

 

>>> Discover The Hyundai Seoul boutique.

 

|||   SUBSCRIBE TO THE PLAN   |||   Get the greatest stories worldwide in architecture and design, the latest projects, builds, rankings and reviews, advice on videos, gallery images and interviews

Credits

Location: Seattle, USA
Architects: SkB Architects
Completion: 2021
Area: 600 m2
Photography by Nicholas Worley and Hannah Rankin, courtesy of SkB Architects

Keep up with the latest trends in the architecture and design world

© Maggioli SpA • THE PLAN • Via del Pratello 8 • 40122 Bologna, Italy • T +39 051 227634 • P. IVA 02066400405 • ISSN 2499-6602 • E-ISSN 2385-2054
ITC Avant Garde Gothic® is a trademark of Monotype ITC Inc. registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and which may be registered in certain other jurisdictions.