Dentists get cavities, developers buy houses; how do designers execute on their own plans—and spend their money?
With an office full of architects, design firm WATG found out when re-visioning its 30,000-square-foot corporate headquarters on two floors at 300 Spectrum Center Drive.
WATG Senior Designer Angela Lindsay told the Business Journal the company held internal workshops for staffers in the run-up to a request for proposal, ultimately seeking more area for collaboration, less for formal offices—a cubicle model fast becoming outdated.
“It was a big project for us,” Lindsay said, “to bring our vision to life.”
She said a more-community-less-privacy aim meant a closed-in conference room was opened up, dividing walls were lowered, and a lobby area—which frequently anchors holiday parties for employees and clients—needed to make a statement from the moment someone entered the environs.
First, Most
“We wanted to make the most of our space and show what a creative company we are,” Lindsay said—crucial to the cultivation of an internal dynamic staffers would feel daily, and one clients and prospects could sense and respond to when visiting for meetings.
WATG is a top 10 OC architecture practice with about $23 million in local billings and $41 million companywide, according to Business Journal research; its work is heavy in hospitality, including several projects for R.D. Olson Development: Newport Beach’s Lido House and Huntington Beach’s Paséa Hotel & Spa, as well as Irvine Spectrum Marriott.
“The WATG office is a very welcoming and warm environment,” said Martin Gilbert, a principal at Costa Mesa-based general contractor JRM Construction Management West won the building bid for the project, worth about $1 million, alongside Santa Monica design consultant HLW.
Vision, Means
JRM’s western work spun out from a New York-based firm in 2016, when it had about $4 million in SoCal billings; it’s on track to hit $30 million this year.
Its clients include South Coast Plaza—the mall itself and several tenants. It recently wrapped up interior build-out on retail candy store Sugarfina and a new restaurant, Knife Pleat. Other clients at the mall include Stella McCartney, St. John Knits, and Ferragamo.
Gilbert said JRM was drawn to WATG by its reputation and a chance to remake a portion of a prominent Irvine Co. building; 300 Spectrum Center totals about 312,000 square feet.
In line with big names, the finished work includes big statements, including a nine-tier chandelier and a 14 feet long high-top table with waterfall edges.
Some statements could not be made.
“JRM helped with costs and pricing,” Lindsay said.
“Working for an architect was slightly unorthodox,” Gilbert said, “but they understood our process more than most.”
