Project of The Month: Home Chef
When Home Chef consolidated their three Chicago office locations into one 75,000 sq ft headquarters, they were presented with a unique opportunity: blending the fresh ideals of Home Chef with the historic beauty of Chicago’s Old Post Office building. To bring the two together, IA Interior Architects in partnership with the Project Management and Furniture Advisory team at CBRE created a space suited for the growing company’s vibrant workforce. Corporate Concepts was fortunate to be the selected furniture dealer to contribute to the overall vision for this space.
Historical guidelines were followed during the entire design process, preserving the nature of the space while finding fresh ways to create both communal areas and independent workstations.
To learn more about the furniture selections for Home Chef, hover over the images throughout the blog below. Anywhere you see an orange plus sign, hover over the icon for more information.
A Homey Feel
IA was inspired by the home in Home Chef, leading to the incorporation of a residence-like feel with unique rooms, or “neighborhoods,” throughout the space. To bring this feeling to life, Corporate Concepts selected furniture that embodied distinct areas identified by the design team, such as a den, urban patio, living room, backyard, and more. The triangular atrium at the center of the post office quickly became the heart of this project, with café areas surrounding it to take advantage of the natural light and warmth of the space.
The Corporate Concepts team, led by Emily Ory, developed 10 different workstation typicals to offer Home Chef’s various teams unique work modes. Emily’s team worked closely with Knoll to find creative ways to incorporate the homey feel throughout the space. This led to the use of black gallery panels at the end of each workstations that embody the shape of a house or roof.
To pay homage to the rich history of the Old Post Office building, vintage rugs of various colors were also inserted in each neighborhood.
Cost-Savings Opportunities
Prior to developing furniture recommendations, Emily’s team took inventory of Home Chef’s existing furniture at their old offices. This allowed Corporate Concepts to reuse existing pieces that would blend into the new space. For instance, OFS phone booths were repurposed at the new location, allowing Corporate Concepts to reduce the number of new phone booths that required purchasing.
In addition, Emily’s team was able to significantly reduce the client’s overall budget by providing banquette booths that typically would have been included in the construction scope. Instead, these were added into the furniture package and custom-made by Jones Ward Design along with a unique conference table to match the booths.
A Recipe for Success
Every great workplace designer knows it’s important to come back and refine your recipe. That’s why Corporate Concepts remained in close contact with Home Chef and IA after the furniture installation was complete.
Emily’s team, with the help of IA and Home Chef, examined how employees were utilizing the space upon move-in. After identifying spaces that weren’t being utilized at their most-efficient capacity, our team reconfigured and strategically added product to align the space with user feedback.
Are you looking to develop a recipe for success for your furniture solutions? Contact us to see how Corporate Concepts can help.