STREET FACTORY MEDIA, OFFICE RENOVATION

The transformation of this former machine shop into an office building for an innovative marketing company grows out of the unique working process of this particular client, as well as the character of the existing building and its neighborhood context.

Working directly with numerous product brands and advertising agencies, Street Factory employees spend much of their time in the field. The company headquarters serves as a place to gather, touch base, and to mobilize for the next guerilla marketing excursion. Our interior office design strategies focused on inserting moveable and freestanding objects which do not clutter the open space of this former light industrial machine shop. Moveable workstations and furniture allow for the creation of larger gathering or mobilization areas. The existing ceiling finish will be removed to expose a steel truss and wood joist barrel vault which unifies the entire footprint of the building. A grid of power and data supply overhead, reminiscent of the overhead service infrastructure used by the former machine shop, allows staff to ‘plug-in’ anywhere within the overall open space.

Being situated on a blighted street, near a rapidly re-developing Minneapolis commercial neighborhood, the building and associated parking area required some consideration for security measures. Our exterior design strategies attempted to marry security functionality with respect for the pedestrian and the changing neighborhood. Security grills over windows become decorative screens, parking lot fencing becomes a vertical garden.