As one of the largest energy producers in the United States, our client relies heavily on its world-class workforce to provide clean energy to the world. With the end of its Houston headquarters lease, leadership seized the opportunity to move their team to a more desirable downtown locale – a highly sought-after tower with some of the best views in the city. The new space meant a reduction in floorplan but an exciting opportunity to energize workplace culture and emphasize their commitment to employee well-being.

The client re-engaged our longstanding relationship and expertise to maximize the tighter layout and create a modern home-away-from-home for employees, effectively elevating every aspect of their workplace experience. Still, the design needed to reflect the global standards we’d recently helped them develop.

We worked as an extension of their team, consulting executives and directors on concepts and full furniture mockup surveys that would strike the right balance of corporate and comfort, pushing past convention with each iteration. Ultimately, the energy group prioritized a hospitality-infused, modular design with warm woods, intricate lighting, and intentional ergonomics. The strategic design would also place circulation and communal spaces around the perimeter, optimizing natural light to boost employee mood and productivity.

The first of 4.5 floors houses their social hub, an open-air café that intentionally lures employees beyond their desks, which are housed on the upper floors. This unifying area features floor-to-ceiling windows, cozy hotel-inspired seating, and overhead lighting fixtures that shine as a beacon from the street. Soft-toned furniture, pops of color, and greenery relax the otherwise corporate aura into an environment where employees can disconnect from work and connect with each other.

From the café, employees have direct access to an expansive terrace of green spaces, games, and loungers covered by a pergola. An adjacent wing of this floor also contains a reception area, boardroom, and library, each carrying forward the warmer finishes and millwork central to the design.

Higher floors offer workstations that mimic the first floor’s communal vibe. The executive floor welcomes top-level leaders into a relaxing lobby, pre-meeting spaces, and conference rooms. The remaining floors follow a systematic layout of height-adjustable desks. The modular design allows easy, low-cost adjustments to the space over time and as teams evolve. The subsequent meeting and break rooms were intentionally designed to heighten the interest of the larger communal spaces on the first floor. 

The first-floor cafe and communal spaces achieved a vital objective of the design solution, as employees continually leverage the space to recharge and build their communities. Together, we proved that a smaller floor plan shouldn’t be any less impactful and that a dynamic downtown office can be just as inviting as its surrounding scene.