F-Squared investments has recently moved to their new headquarters at 80 Williams Street in the Wellesley Office Park. F-Squared Investments is a financial adviser, managing over $16 Billion in assets. They now occupy 35,000 SF on two floors, and in the fall will expand into the remaining 10,000 SF of free space in the building. The new space was designed by LaFreniere Architects, with Deborah Speilman of Bennington Design Management as the owner’s rep and project manager. The General Contractor was Buildout Construction. Unlike many contemporary office spaces with an open field of low partition work places, these financial investment professionals require private offices. This has resulted in offices on most of the perimeter. To maintain an open feel to the interior space, and an awareness of the outdoors, 70 % of the office walls are frameless glass. The solid portions of the office walls have stained cherry veneer paneling, whose dark tone paradoxically makes the glass areas feel more open.
The building has a relatively narrow footprint, so there are just single rows of open work stations for researchers between the exterior and interior offices, and all are brightly lit by the perimeter windows through the offices.
The new facility has a large central gathering space which takes advantage of the brigh tnatural light from the building atrium skylight. The coffee/lunch / break room has large high-top counters with stools to encourage mingling and informal interaction between team members, and for impromptu meetings between various groups. The lunchroom is at the top of an interconnecting stairway, and serves as a hub or “town square” for the company.
The main reception for the company is located at the conference center with three main conference rooms, and a large dividable training room, with state of the art AV and teleconferencing. The conference center is used by many visiting groups, and has its own break-out and food service areas.
The planning and architectural language of the space was designed to be straightforward and practical, with a professional and permanent appearance. The detailing and materials are modern, but the wood paneling and wood base add a traditional feeling which is appropriate for a financial services firm.
A variety of different solutions were considered for the glass walls, including DIRTT systems, imported European systems and aluminum framed systems. In the end, a simple system of single half-inch thick glass panels supported by channels top and bottom, and a single glass door with patch hinges and recessed floor closers turned out to be both the most economical and substantial, and also the least visually intrusive. The General Contractor was able to obtain all the materials with short lead times, so this selection facilitated the tight schedule as well.
Buildout Construction self-performed all the drywall, ceilings, carpentry and millwork on the project, including the wood paneling and custom reception desk. This facilitated a fast-track approach, with two separate permits, so the rapidly expanding firm could move into the first 15,000 SF two months before the completion of the entire two-floor space.
The team of LaFreniere Architects, Bennington Design and Buildout Construction had designed and built F-Squared’s former 12,000 SF space in Newton two years previously, so the team was reassembled for this project. This team has worked successfully together on many projects over the last fifteen years, but these projects are only a small portion of each company’s work-load. This keeps the relationship crisp and professional and ensures that the common goal is to provide the best value to the users.