By SALLY SWANSON, AIA
Almost moving day…and, I am feeling the pangs of melancholy wash over me.
Have I mentioned that my office is making a move? In a few short weeks, my firm, which I started (a mere) 37 years ago, will be firmly ensconced in its new office space. True, that the space is only three city blocks away from where it’s headquartered now, but it still tugs at my heartstrings to leave this location. For eight years, this office has been my home away from home (and of all the offices, this is the one that I have enjoyed the most). It has been my sanctuary through fortunate upswings (we’re experiencing one right now), and downward times (no thanks to the Great Recession). What made the space we’re leaving so special is that I designed the workspace to meet the needs of my staff (the highest priority) and imbue an important aesthetic that fed on the abundance of light this office is blessed with (as well as its great bones). At the behest of the building owner, I also space planned other floors to the marvel of other tenants in occupancy (who compliment me to this day).
We are all involved in the necessary busy work of changing locations. There are clients to contact, business cards and stationary to order, methodical purging of files, and the not-so-pleasant chore (of packing up boxes).
I have been working day and night for months now with the new building’s resident architect (Frances has been a dream to work with – we have been speaking the same language from the start and seem to intuit the next steps) to adapt and soften the former industrial-looking space with its thick gray concrete columns and floors into an oasis that works for everyone. The color scheme is serene in meditative greens, and lighter woods and chairs and flooring will breathe life into the space (which is boxier than our current L-shaped office configuration).
While I may miss being at a high floor always aware of the busyness of the city streets below and the sounds that carry upwards, the new workspace may actually be enhanced by being tranquil (no endless street construction to contend with on a daily basis) and, therefore, more conducive to work being conducted. What we gain in this new neighborhood, closer to the San Francisco Bay where surrounding buildings also have a lower profile in general, is a glimpse of the occasional sailboat passing to the right, and looking left to North Beach there is the majestic and historically significant Sentinel Building (San Francisco’s answer to New York City’s Flatiron Building) in all its copper-clad green patina splendor which houses the film company American Zoetrope (Francis Ford Coppola).
Right now, we are weathering the storm of two new desks damaged beyond repair in transit and the need to hastily order additional lighting to bring more light into the office’s production area which will see heavy use in prepping proposals and reports when we are up and running.
In life if it’s not one thing, it’s another. And, I have braced myself for this upcoming move since March when we recognized as a firm that we could not meet the owner’s demand for a rent increase that would more than double the present rent. Business has been wonderful as our services have never been in greater demand. But, the priority to me is clear, the best use of revenue is to simply hire the best possible staff. For me, the firm is strongest when the right people who share the same level of passion as I become actively engaged in the meaningful work of bringing Universal Design and Wayfinding to public places. From the start we have not deviated from our mission and belief that “everyone deserves a chance to participate from the school yard to the world stage”. I truly believe that we will be even stronger moving forward as we build on past successes together in a new inspiring office environment.
Ah, wistfulness.
And so, I thoroughly acknowledge and accept that there will be a period of adjustment as with any considerable change to status quo. I’m in the mood to welcome change (and like Mary Tyler Moore, close the lights – figuratively and emotionally – on this chapter of life’s adventure one last time).
Wishing a Merry Christmas to all!
