Stantec does a good deal of work with Wintrust Financial Services, but this project was different. Both Wintrust and Stantec knew this one would need a little extra attention to overcome the stereotype of the business line as well as the outlying suburban location.
We took inspiration from some of the more urban tech spaces we’ve been designing. We knew we needed to address all the items listed above, but we also wanted to get people talking about this anything-but-run-of-the-mill financial office space. We wanted to create a destination, and why not? Just because it’s a contact center doesn’t mean it can’t be.
The design of the space takes an industrial direction, which is antithetical to the rest of the spaces in the building, and pretty much in your face as soon as you walk off the elevators. We designed an over-scaled perforated and cold-rolled steel signage piece with a backlit laser-cut logo, exposed ceilings, industrial linear lighting and stained concrete floors. Immediately adjacent and off the entry, we created an oversized café space with the same industrial lighting that bends and folds its way into the space, a varied-height communal table, plywood nooks with exposed connections and subtle complementary colors to create balance.
We took advantage of the abundant natural light that entered the space by minimizing built environment at the perimeter, and when it does occur, it’s conference and/or communal space. All the ceilings were left exposed, acoustically treated, and a sleek LED lighting scheme was developed to act in harmony with natural lighting.
In the open office, all the desks are sit-to-stand and have views to the surrounding landscape. We employed unexpected materials, such as worn and recycled metal panels to create storage towers and hide irregular column placement, and primary color-coded for wayfinding. We developed an easily-changeable slip-form steel tube framing module that separated core circulation from the open office and held glass panels with tongue-in-cheek historical telephone super-graphics.
This was the edge they were seeking. We created an office that was downtown-reminiscent, uniquely branded, technologically-forward, uber-functional, attractive, and suitable for developing a strong and communal office culture. But most importantly, it proves that both Wintrust and Stantec meant it when we said we were going to do something special. And that kind of mileage is endless.
