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Outcast has completed its first office interior regarding a design that has pushed the boundaries of a typical commercial space, using a solution rooted in the traditions of hospitality.
Jones Day is not your average American law firm. It has approximately 2,500 lawyers across 37 locations worldwide and earlier this year announced it was opening three associate offices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, Jeddah and Alkhobar.
It moved to a new office in Dubai this month where it commissioned Outcast to create a complex blend of hospitality and commercial interior design for the 33rd floor of Currency Tower, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
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Originally intended as a penthouse apartment, the space was double the height of a normal office, at about 10 metres, surrounded by full height glass and a three metre garden terrace. The views over Dubai are breathtaking.
“We needed Outcast to design the space so it would serve as a functioning office to meet these needs efficiently and practically.
But we didn’t want to destroy any of the natural elements of the space – the double-height, open-air feel; the floor to ceiling glass windows with terrific 360 degree views of the entire city and the Persian Gulf; and the beautiful outdoor terrace that runs three-quarters of the way around the space,” said Sheila Shadmand, administrative partner, Jones Day.
The three distinct challenges for the design team were those affecting the design, space and technical details and it was clear from early on the success of the project would depend on identifying and addressing each challenge at the outset before any work began.
“The first design challenge was a question of approach. Commercial space is typically horizontal, and we had a vertical space. We were convinced it would require some large architectural treatment before we could take it to the next level,” said Justin Penketh, managing partner, Outcast.
“Spatially, the principal challenge was how to create a commercial environment in a 10 metre high space.
Offices need ceilings, and it’s simply not feasible to have an associate or partner sitting under a 10 metre ceiling. Plus, aesthetics aside, we would have to light and cool these offices somehow and that meant a spatial transformation from vertical to horizontal space in some areas of the office.
“Technically, we had already decided on a bold approach to the architectural elements. That meant going ‘big’. The boardroom door was going to be over six metres high.
The main entrance ‘fins’ (as we called them) were seven metres high and we were clearly going to need to construct a mezzanine of some kind over the working parts of the office to create ceilings for the staff offices.
Aside from this, we had to try to retain the impact and the drama of the space that inspired Jones Day to lease the building in the first place.”
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