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Skytel is a computer-based telecommunications company providing advanced communications and paging services via a network of satellites. Their 42,000 square foot headquarters is located in a new office building in downtown Washington DC. The objective was to design a modern environment representative of the high tech industry.
The symmetrical plan organizes the interior spaces around the axis of the elevator lobby, with the reception and presentation rooms to the north and the computer hub to the south. The hub emphasizes technology as a symbolic representation of the firm’s operations. In addition to its prominent location, the computer room opens through glass walls onto an elevated viewing platform from which potential customers can observe the company’s technological advances.
The materials palette for primary office areas is established in the reception zone, which features sliding, gridded doors of Makore wood and patterned glass. Door detailing is repeated in the screen wall behind the reception desk, and is echoed in typical private office fronts. Open office work areas, perimeter offices and the executive suite are tied together by dark green floors made of Kirkstone with granite inserts. In the design of custom furniture, innovative support detailing of stone slabs challenges the perception of weight traditionally associated with this material. Interestingly, the chairman’s desk stone slab tapers downward to allow for normal and urgent notes on his desk, a detail tailored to his personality.
The materials and color palette for this office were also used to set the tone for Skytel’s satellite offices in Chicago (13,000 sf), Los Angeles (6,600 sf), San Francisco (6,800 sf) and New York (24,000 sf).
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