FKM Headquarters
Houston, Texas
When FKM, a leading advertising agency in Houston, decided to relocate from their eighteen-year-old, mostly enclosed offices, they embarked on a plan to reduce office sizes, open them up and devote more space to collaboration. The company decided to embrace a working model that reduced the hierarchy of positions and of offices.
The design solution resulted in an open concept that places importance on equal access to daylight. Open workstations are located along the window wall while management offices were zoned toward the building core. Through the programming process, three office standards were developed. There are no doors in any of the offices, including the executives. Lower partitions provide everyone with access to daylight and visual connections to each other. Teaming areas are ubiquitously located throughout the floors with access to collaboration devices as marker boards, tack boards and TV monitors. The “Great Room” was conceived to hold multiple functions: to accommodate the whole staff for monthly office-wide functions; or serve as a central break room / play area; or hold small team meetings; or bring in a laptop for quiet work while enjoying a cup coffee.