Refurbishment brief for 22nd floor, Millbank Tower SW1P 4RS Background: LEWIS PR is a leading international public relations agency, a global company with 25 offices in over 20 different countries. Their services include public relations and digital marketing, built upon a foundation in creativity and storytelling. They have a particular expertise in social media, and offer integrated approaches to public relations, digital marketing and content creation. Their London office is housed in Millbank Tower, literally round the corner to Chelsea College of Arts, and directly overlooks the Thames. They already have a close connection to Chelsea through the Kupambana Foundation, a not-for-profit initiative that champions the adoption of visual and creative arts in communications. They want to extend these links by hosting a design competition for the complete redesign of their existing office, which has fantastic 360° views over London. Despite its fantastic location, the office currently does not reflect the true creative spirit of the company, and the kind of people they employ. They have approached Chelsea because they want an experimental, edgy though professional approach. They are keen to radically alter their office, and to introduce spaces for showing or installing artwork as an integral aspect of the brief. They wish to provide a platform for students in Graphic Design, Textiles, Fine Art, Interior and Spatial Design and other parts of the School, which deserve an outstanding exhibition space. One of the outcomes of this is intended to be that the College will derive an income from the exhibition of student work. The space should also enable LEWIS PR’s international clients to experience the creative abilities of the College in a professional context. The space will also be used for the presentation of research and quarterly fundraising events. LEWIS PR do not want a conventional office feel, although there are still practical considerations to take into account (see Basic requirements below). They want a much more uncluttered and flexible space, which reflects their ethos as a company. As the company founder and CEO states, ‘we want to rip everything out and start again’. They also want to confront their clients, and to open up new ways of thinking about the digital. Technology is at the heart of what they do, and this needs to be communicated through the design intervention. They are keen to introduce novel approaches to the digital environment, and to communicate the fact that this is a global headquarters. The first stage of the project is open to all MA ISD and BA ISD students, with a hand-in after the Christmas break. You can enter individually, or as part of a collaborative team. This stage will focus primarily on ideas development, though you will also be expected to come up with workable plans and sections. You will need to communicate the look or feel of the project. 3 students or student teams will be then selected to take the project further, with a view to a March second stage submission, and installation of the winning scheme end of March/beginning of April 2014. These three finalists will be expected to work up the project to a more detailed level, and the winner(s) will then work closely with LEWIS PR’s internal team in order to provide additional information for the construction of the project. Submission requirements: • • • •
2 x A1 Sheets: to include 1:50 plan, relevant sections/elevations, views of interior. These must capture the spirit of the design 2 x A4 Sheet: to include a 500 word conceptual statement and a 500 word description of the materials used All information to include names of participants and project title A pdf version of the above
1
Timeline: Phase One Project Launch: Registration of design teams:
Site visits (must be booked): Tutorials: Phase one submission: Students informed of shortlist: Phase Two Briefing of shortlisted schemes: Additional site visits: Tutorials: Phase two submission:
Monday 18 November 2013 Friday 22 November deadline 5.00pm BA students/teams to be sent to: c.e.priest@chelsea.arts.ac.uk MA students/teams to be sent to: k.wilder@chelsea.arts.ac.uk Friday, November 29 10:00-12:00 Friday, December 6 10:00-12:00 To be confirmed Wednesday 08 January 2014, 4.00-5.00pm Submissions to room number A306 Wednesday 15 January 2014
Phase two judging panel:
Monday 20 January 2014 To be confirmed To be confirmed Wednesday 12 March 2014, 10.00am Submissions to room number A306 Wednesday 12 March 2014, 2.00pm
Phase Three:
End March / April 2014 execution
Prize Three Phase One prizes of ÂŁ500 for shortlisted entries (to be shared if entered as a team) One Phase Two prize of ÂŁ3500 for winning entry (to be shared if entered as a team) The winning student(s) must commit to working on the development of the scheme to completion, in collaboration with LEWIS PR. LEWIS PR reserve the right not to award Phase One and Phase Two prizes in the unlikely situation of no schemes being of the required standard.
LEWIS PR San Francisco office
2
APPENDIX nd Basic requirements for 22 floor: The scheme is expected to remove the current split/segmentation of the office. • •
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Seating - 75 seats Reception area – meet & greet/switchboard; improve space efficiency; must be close to kitchen area or have facilities to be enable front of house to provide refreshments quickly / easily – x2 seats for behind reception desk; cabinet storage required for glasses, mugs, plates; space for fax/franking machine/printer Kitchen area – only one kitchen area on floor (not where currently located / doubles as informal meeting space, staff/client lunches (internal / external use); improved facilities Bathrooms – more / better showers Meeting rooms – x3 min. Office for CEO Small offices – x2 HR, Finance (double as micro meeting area) Micro spaces – for one-person calls (x3 min.) Air-conditioning cassettes (some already in place) – need to be in every room/enclosed space (to supplement building HVAC which is very poor) Exhibition walls/spaces – creating space for current and future exhibitions Communications/IT room – needs to remain in situ Stationery / storage area Storage for guests, coats & staff Display / storage for newspapers & magazines
Other ideas? • Consider enclosed unisex toilets, sink cubicles (river side/replacing gents) – visitor & staff facing? • Consider enclosed shower, toilet, sink cubicles (service lift side/replacing ladies) for staff? • Provide staff lockers? • Values wall? • Open meeting areas / pods? • Soundproofed meeting room/area for filming? Built-in pull-down rolls of green screen, blue screen, white screen, black screen for backgrounds for filming? • A room with screens built into walls to display news feeds, data streams etc – a data hub • Glass offices (HR, Finance office spaces, CEO) (no opaque stud walls) – acoustic concerns? • Informal meeting area – creative, visually stimulating • Stand up hot desk areas – people can take their laptops and work for a bit standing up • Treadmill workstations? – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21076461 • Living wall? • Walls for posting info – whiteboard paint? In reception or kitchen area? • Avoid furniture against perimeter? • Expose ceiling? • Polished concrete floor rather than dated carpet tiles? Acoustic concerns - noisy? Cabling/power issue? Power from ceiling or floor? Power pole? RoboReel? IT requirements: • Wireless phones / VOIP system under consideration • Bigger, better TVs instead of projectors in main meeting rooms • Headsets for all TBD • AirPlay on all TVs - no touch-screens therefore required • Better faster wireless • Most staff are on laptops but use monitors as well (as laptop screens are too small)
3
• • •
Display of live data; screen to display Netvibes stats or showcasing digital work; demo Leap Motion gesture control device – Digital Nerve Centre Replace/update lightboxes that currently display client coverage – digitize? Note power is only currently available from interior / exterior walls as there is no raised flooring
For reference only (as it’s costly to import) furniture in our San Francisco office: Supplier: AllSteel (US) Desking: Stride • The workstations were 4' x 4' x 24"w with mobile box file pedestal with a seat cushion – most are 120 degree format • Straight benches (finance), L shaped desks for the private offices Chairs: Relate Supplier: www.k2-space.co.uk (alternative Furniture supper in Europe) Desking: Vitra Workit Chairs: Vitra ID mesh Background Information on Lewis PR: Who are we: http://www.lewispr.com/About-LEWIS-PR.aspx nd
Images of 22 floor: http://we.tl/pTaGAQ453b The Kupambana Foundation Introductory video to the San Francisco office (last flagship refurbishment): http://youtu.be/CsyYrY0NK_0
4