Founded in 1877, Reed Smith is an international law firm that employs more than 1,550 attorneys in offices throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Despite working from multiple locations, the firm’s attorneys are connected by a common culture and a commitment to company-wide core values of integrity, quality, teamwork and respect.
Through these values, Reed Smith continues to foster a work environment that focuses on delivering excellence to their clients and helping their employees succeed. In the last year alone, Reed Smith earned on a place on Yale Law Women’s 2019 Top Family Friendly Firms list, along with named among Crain’s Best Places to Work in New York City for the second year running, among other prestigious accolades.
When discussing with the designers at Gensler, Reed Smith had a clear vision of a new office space that embraced approachability. Moving away from the look of a traditional law firm, Gensler provided a vision of universal office spaces and collaborative work environments to create a comforting, flexible space where all are welcome.
Project Requirements:
For their renovation, Reed Smith had three objectives.
- Create an environment that enhanced the collegial aspects of their company culture. The new space was designed to feel friendly, down-to-earth and egalitarian, reflecting how Reed Smith sees themselves as a company.
- It was vital that Reed Smith’s new office had ample accessibility to technology, natural light and spaces for their team to work together.
- The new space should feature their expertise as global leaders in the legal field, while reinforcing their strong ties to the local communities in Chicago.
For this, Corporate Concepts provided pieces that evoke comfort and comradery, such as the that invites collaboration and customization. With these goals in mind, we set to work selecting business furniture solutions to elevate the Reed Smith brand and convey their brand image.
Collegial Creations + Natural Light
For this project to be successful, Reed Smith needed to provide their employees with everything required to succeed on each floor of this five-floor renovation. Every floor was designed to have a bright, open-air feeling and equipped with a place to relax and sip on a cup of coffee right off of the elevator.
Each employee was provided a height-adjustable desk from Knoll’s Open Plan system, offering them flexibility in their space throughout the day. Sleek private offices filled with Halcon furniture also made for a fresh place to inspire employees. Gensler designed the space to ensure everyone had ample access to natural light and views of the city.
Equally important, Reed Smith placed an emphasis on creating spaces for employees to connect, decompress and work independently. By incorporating furniture that enables teamwork and socialization, Corporate Concepts was able to reinforce Reed Smith’s values of feeling down-to-earth and welcoming within their common spaces.
Global Leaders
Gensler found several ways to incorporate pieces of Reed Smith’s history into their new design. For example, they installed a sprawling map of Chicago on a main office wall to reinforce the company’s historical ties to the community. The designers were also able to reuse and rethink the beautiful yellow onyx screens in Reed Smith’s original reception area to create a newly featured art piece.
Reed Smith now resides in a modern office that exemplifies their core company values through open spaces and congenial design. Through Gensler’s work and furniture provided by Corporate Concepts, they now have a work environment that reflects their culture.
Whether you’re in need of items to highlight your office motif or need to start from scratch with a whole office worth of furniture, contact us to help plan and design your business furniture needs.
