Art in an Office

Figma New York is a workplace renovation and research on the identity of “Art” in an office.

The Challenge

Figma approached Rapt Studio to design their office at New York. They wanted to use paintings, photographs, and murals to make office spaces appear less corporate.

Unconventional schedule
Figma want us to copy and paste what we designed for the San Francisco store to reduce time and effort for procurement
Existing artworks are available from the clients’ collection, and all must be placed in the office space

Project Approach

We explored Figmates’ ways of gathering and working style in the office, and tailored spaces for the New York office specifically.

We also studied Brand Personality of Figma & Color Representation in spaces: When these characters are translated to the way they can be represented in spatial and visual context, we can play with various combinations of the above in the open office of Figma’s NYC office (which is different from that of the building layout in SF.

Key Development

On Colors: Figma’s brand colors, brand guidelines and possible color combinations was the starting point that influences FF&E choices
On Proportions: Relationships between the furniture and that with the building space is important.
On Details: The century-old building has lots of details to work with. We identified columns on the finish plans to receive detail paint applications to bring a ‘wow’ moment for those who can discover it.

The Outcome

We increased number of meeting areas from 1 to 8 by creating blocks of more private and character-filled collaboration areas within the vast open office.
We placed the 14 artworks in a few enclosed spaces in the office (1 conference room, 6 acoustically-private meeting pods and Lactation room) - To exert a stronger impression on the viewer with the artwork in proportion to the scale of the room.

“We have a collection of 14 artworks, can we put all of them in the new office since we acquired them already? Here’s the list.”

Client wants to use paintings, photographs, and murals to make office spaces appear less corporate.

We primarily used paint to produce different interactions of colors that defined spaces for gathering in the 8,000 square-foot open office.

Meanwhile, we placed the 14 artworks in the few enclosed spaces in the office (a conference room and acoustically-private meeting pods) - To exert a stronger impression on the viewer with the artwork in proportion to the scale of the room.

And of course, I placed the most expensive piece from their collection - a tufted art by the Brooklyn-based artist Caroline Kaufman - in a room with the least traffic - the Mother’s Room, all the way at the back of the office, where one has to make a journey and enjoy it alone. ︎

︎︎︎ Design Processes

Art in an Office

Professional Work ︎ Rapt Studio
2022

Site
︎︎︎ Chelsea, New York

Client
︎︎︎ Figma

Collaborators
︎︎︎ Kumar Atre, Esin Ekincioglu, Ga Young Park

Responsibilities
︎︎︎Research, Concept / Schematic / Detail Design, FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment), Specifications, Construction Administration, Project Management, Post-Construction Styling