Confidential NBA Client
Located steps from home court, this NBA team's new headquarters at The Hub on Causeway presented a unique opportunity to design a space that incorporates the energy of the game and embodies the team’s iconic brand. The new workplace creates a “home” for each staff member with custom-designed workstations and offices, complemented by a variety of open and enclosed focus, collaboration, creative, and meeting spaces. The balance of space types allows for enhanced productivity, flexibility, and connection among in-person and virtual staff. A robust amenities program includes locker rooms for game-day prep, a café and flex space with sweeping city and harbor views, and a video-production studio. Throughout the space, the interior and environmental graphic design work together to showcase the team’s winning legacy, from wood parquet floors to installations of championship banners and retired numbers.
With the goal of making every employee feel like they are "in the game," Studio Other worked closely with Gensler and the NBA team to co-design and install 120 custom workstations and 33 private office systems. It was agreed upon that the end solution needed to strongly express the team's brand and reflect who they are as an organization. In fact, this brand expression was taken towards its purist and most literal form, with several basketball elements including parquet wood, basketball net, basketball leather, and an understated play on the team’s notable green.
Studio Other began the process by ordering 20 different basketball net styles and put them to the test in their durability and knot designs. After landing on the style that would function the best, the team hand-knitted each panel frame, which became an incredibly distinctive design element in every workstation. Additionally, each workstation came outfitted with a storage cabinet, and featured a wood portion wrapped in leather that closely imitated a basketball. The team chose a gray metal that gave a grungy locker room feel and mixed in walnut veneer panels to bring some sophistication to the piece with a rope detail window to represent the net.
Interestingly enough, many of the employees had been basketball players at some point, so the team had to account for a generally tall and athletic user when considering storage. Therefore, the team developed a work wall with a seven-foot-tall tower cabinet as part of each private office setup that would allow for the concealment of items like gym bags and winter coats.
