Contract Magazine - January/February 2018 - 120

intuit
marine way
building

INTERIORS AWARDS

120

Sustainable
WRNS Studio and
Clive Wilkinson Architects

Client
Intuit

A building designed to the highest standards
of sustainability can, indeed, be beautiful. Projected
to attain Platinum level in LEED for Building Design
and Construction, Intuit's new office in Mountain
View, California, offers spaces that have intrinsic
beauty and promote a sense of community.
Designed as an antidote to the insular tech campuses
nearby, the Intuit workplace is engaging and
human-centered. Inside its enormous light-filled
atrium and broad landscaped terraces that bring
nature to every floor, employees can find a wide
range of working environments.
Intuit wanted this flagship project, its first
ground-up building, to reflect the organization's
culture and prioritize the employee experience.
Specifically designed to bring approximately 1,080
people in its small-business division together under
one roof, the building needed to be "low, wide,
connected, and flexible," says Jan Penagos, senior
workplaces business partner at Intuit. "We were also
looking for better quality materials, and we didn't
want kitsch that didn't reflect the work being done."
For this 185,400-square-foot, four-story
building, Intuit paired up two California firms to
realize its vision: San Francisco-based WRNS Studio
for the core and shell, and Los Angeles-based Clive
Wilkinson Architects for the interiors. The design
team chose to highlight the construction by
exposing the concrete structure. "It's more industrial,
in a genuine way, than most offices-somewhere
between a warehouse and an art gallery," Wilkinson
says. "All of the materials that are used to adorn it are
done in contrast to the concrete."
The board-formed concrete walls and flat
cast-in-place concrete ceilings have a refined
appearance. The designers reduced the amount
of cement by incorporating 15 percent fly ash into
the concrete mix, the maximum they could use
before the color would be compromised. Corridors
are accented with dropped slatted ceilings of solid
vertical-grain hemlock. All of the wood used
throughout the project is FSC certified.
To bring in natural light and create a central
gathering point for the long four-story structure, the
design team planned the building around a striking
3,600-square-foot central atrium, breaking up the
nearly 60,000-square-foot floor plates. Outfitted
with bleacher seating in durable hickory, the atrium
easily accommodates all-staff meetings. Stairs
integrated with the bleachers allow access between

the first two levels. The remaining floors are
connected by a grand staircase with a distinctive
railing of perforated aluminum, powdercoated
in Intuit's brand blue. Two conference rooms
with tilted glass walls, which cantilever out from
the upper levels, increase the drama in the large
open space.
Aside from concrete, glass is also prevalent
inside, contributing to an indoor-outdoor feeling
throughout. Thanks to substantial terraces with
an undulating landscape of native plants, each
level feels like it is at grade. The top floor, which is
devoted primarily to glass-walled conference rooms,
features a wide, sheltered terrace with outdoor
meeting areas.
Each workplace neighborhood of roughly
30 people has more intimate gathering spaces,
including two meeting rooms and several phone
booths, as well as access to two living rooms and
kitchens on each floor. The variety of programmatic
functions along the atrium perimeter lends itself
to an active, lively setting.
"We tried to create spaces with a great
variety of scales to allow people to engage at
different levels," says Sam Nunes, a partner with
WRNS Studio. "Sustainability includes human
well-being, and empowering people with choices
so they can create the kind of environment that
works for them." c

contractdesign.com

Location
Mountain View, California

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2018
http://www.contractdesign.com
Contract Magazine - January/February 2018

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