| interiors + architecture |
BANKING ON DESIGN
Written by LAUREN MANG Photographed by CHRISTIAN COLUMBRES
HACKER ARCHITECTS’ DESIGN FOR THE NEW PORTLAND OFFICE OF ONLINE BANKING STARTUP SIMPLE WAS, WELL, SIMPLE. “No bells, no whistles,
and no Google slides” was the gist of the charge given to Hacker’s associate principal and director of interior design Jennie Fowler, who led the project. “They wanted it to be a comfortable, serene place to work.” The Hacker team decided to center their design process around the concept of home, an idea that guided each decision they made as they transformed the five-level, approximately 60,000-square-foot cross-laminated timber (CLT) office space, one of two southeast Portland buildings into which Simple expanded this year. Hacker’s goal was to create an environment rich in the “quirks and feelings of being in your own house,” says Ian Collins, Simple’s creative director. “We needed a place that was technologically advanced without being cold.” The building’s interior details, including glulam Douglas fir beams and ceilings, supply warmth through natural undertones of pink and blonde. White and gray accent walls guard against a stereotypically woodsy PNW look, and a pared-back material palette invites employees to personalize their desks and office spaces. “The simpler our design could be, the more everyone could bring themselves into the space,” Fowler says. Collins first canvassed employees to see what they valued most in their office environment and then brought what he’d learned to the Hacker team: Simple’s »
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