Offices are no longer simply a building where people go to work. They have become a way for companies to express their brand, emanate their culture, and celebrate collaboration, all while creating an experience for their clients who visit the space. Designing an inspiring office where people want to be is exactly what Charleston tech company Blackbaud aimed to do.
In collaboration with their partner at Staples Business Advantage and the Workplace Advisory Team at Allsteel, they designed a space that would energize employees and represent their unique mission as a business to aid nonprofits, foundations, and other social-minded companies. Additionally, the office needed to be a recruitment tool to tech-savvy potential employees who may not immediately think of South Carolina as the hotbed of technology innovation its become.
From the beginning, the design of the new office space focused on creating an environment that would promote four key necessities: sustainability, flexibility, collaboration, and teamwork. Traditional workstation placement was replaced with a layout that allowed for more energetic and lively interactions between employees. In addition, high top tables placed within the workstations provide touchdown locations for meetings and brainstorming sessions and a variety of community spots are provided for solo or team work. “By enhancing the layout of their solo areas, we were able to create a more functional and efficient workspace that really brought the teams together,” said Tiffany Peebles, Allsteel Market Development Manager on the project.
Mike Gianoni, president and CEO of Blackbaud, elaborated on the importance of creating a space that supports and inspires employees as well as the wider community: “With our new headquarters we’re making a generational investment in the very community that supported us since well before we went public 14 years ago, while also launching the world’s most creative workspace to cultivate innovation at the intersection of technology and social good. From dedicated labs for disruptive innovation, to modern engineering spaces, to leading-edge technology that connects our global workforce like never before, we’re positioned to do what we do—bigger, better, and faster.” There is no doubt that collaboration has already bolstered the team.
“The wellness and sustainability aspects of the building clearly speak to who Blackbaud is as a company and is reflective of their culture, where as before, you didn’t see that when walking into the space,” explained Peebles. For a company that creates software for socially conscious organizations, organic interactions in an office that has employee health in mind have the ability to make a difference in the world, as Blackbaud has seen since the redesign.
Project Details
Headquarters:
Charleston, SC
170,000 sq. ft.
750 Employees
Partnerships:
Staples
PMC Commerical Interiors
ASD Architects
Product Solutions
Seating:
Clarity®, Evo™, Seek®
Workspaces:
Further®, Terrace®
Tables:
Aware®
Storage:
Align™, Essentials™, Involve®
Architectural Walls:
Beyond®