Collaborative Design Process

Collaboration in action.

Collaboration has always been an essential part of the Design Group’s philosophy, and the design of the new office was no exception.  Office-wide charrettes were held so that everyone could contribute ideas and review the design as it progressed.  From the charrettes, three key guiding principles emerged: collaboration, sustainability, community.

Early in the process it became apparent that locating everyone in the same space on one floor was an important goal.  In the new office, everyone from the architecture studio to the interior design department to civil engineering will be located in one large space on the first floor.  Other ideas from the charrettes that were incorporated into the final building design include:

• Renovation / reuse of an existing, historic building.
• Sustainable technology, such as PV panels, solartube lighting, water-harvesting, efficient HVAC, and natural ventilation.
• Environmentally friendly finish products with low VOCs.
• A dishwasher (so we don’t have to use disposable dishes).
• Open, collaborative work spaces.
• Flexible workstations.

According to Ronnie DiCappo, head of the Design Group’s interior design department,

“With design and engineering disciplines becoming more and more integrated everyday, collaboration is more important now than ever before. Our new office is designed to facilitate collaboration among team members.”



Office-wide design charrette.