HOUSTON – By Cynthia Lescalleet (Realty News Report) – Reimagining and repositioning Eldridge Oaks, a 2009 office tower in Houston’s Energy Corridor, made the most of the property’s park-adjacent location. The recent renovation project incorporated biophilic design. That approach in both materials and aesthetic connects workers to the natural world to help boost wellness and well-being, something in demand by the modern workforce.
With companies challenged by attracting and retaining employees who’ve grown accustomed to remote and hybrid-work post-pandemic, offering them an inviting, healthy workplace loaded with upscale amenities and lively common spaces, can be an effective tool, project sources said.
The Eldridge Oaks transformation, designed by IA Interior Architects, is an example. The 14-story, 350,000 square-foot building by George Bush Park is owned by Broadshore Capital Partners and managed by Stream Realty Advisors. The redo project team included OJB landscaping and urban planning, and O’Donnell/Snider Construction.
EXPERIENTIAL SPACES
The project scope was more than a quick refresh of existing space, said Michelle Atkinson, IA Interior Architects managing director and principal-in-charge on the project. In first defining the building’s identity and branding, the pre-design phase focused on experiences that would be unique to the location: the park. Other design influences tapped into hospitality, activity, and flexibility of work and gathering spaces. At the heart of the buildout is the human experience of its spaces, she said.
Prior to its do-over, the building’s lobby, common spaces, hallway to garage, and amenities had a more traditional “corporate vibe,” a nice way of saying a bit staid and sterile.
“No one was hanging out in them,” Atkinson said.
As transformed, the building arrival from the garage is a bright, opened-up common space with dramatic forest views and access to a new, fully-loaded pavilion. The common area, which can can be configured for programs and events during and after work hours, has a lounge, collaborative work areas, booths, a “day-to-night” café bar for grab and go provisions, and various seating areas. (Of note is “The Blob,” a cushy curving sofa that likens to a summer camp waterfront inflatable catapult.)
To gain space for the open floor plan, the previous fitness center was moved and improved, upgrading its locker room, adding a trainer classroom and a door to the park and its trails.
The redesign also moved the conference room to a bright corner off a second lobby for visitors. The function will likely be expanding with breakout rooms as the building continues to gain tenants.
Interior materials now include stone accents (echoing the forest floor) and tambored wooden panels (like the forest), warm and earthy color on furnishings, and over-scale graphics depicting closeups of organic elements such as timber, water and lighting, lots of it natural light uninterrupted through full-height windows. Modern programmable orbs boost the brightness in the reception areas.
BLURRING WORKING, RELAXING
By incorporating ways to exercise, socialize and relax into the work environment, the re-jiggered building has become an environment of “come-and-stay” for the day, Atkinson said. The boundaries are now blurred between work and relaxation as well as between indoors and outside.
One of the project challenges was not knowing if occupancy would be single tenant or multi-tenant, she said. That meant anticipating both, baking flexibility in the floor plan.
Stream’s Eldridge Oaks Property Manager Luisa Tabbert’s take on the building’s redo was: “It worked.” The new space is “in tune” with a younger workforce, she said. The shared amenities and out-of-office spaces are in use throughout the day, and often beyond.
Meanwhile, recent leasing activity of 96,800 square feet adds TMEIC’s headquarters relocation and Consor Engineers, plus expansion by existing tenant Agha Engineering. The small-to-medium tenant mix also includes Ryder Integrated Logistics, VsmSQ Structural Engineers, CCL Global and Hanwha Global Investments Corp., according to previous Stream announcements.
Nov. 29, 2024 – Realty News Report, Copyright 2024
Photo credit: Door to Floor Photography
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