Approach
Located in Columbus, Ohio’s Brewery District, NAI Ohio Equities, a full service commercial real estate and property management company, took over the entire floor of their office building after another tenant moved out. Aligning with their plans for future growth, NAI decided to rethink their workplace dynamic and improve interoffice communication with modern design in mind.
NAI’s existing space felt dark, enclosed, and maze-like. But with their need to maintain a large number of private offices in their new program, creating connectivity and openness within a primarily enclosed office plan became the overarching challenge-turned-mission. The southernmost portion of the office was designed to have pod-like private office groupings with shared collaborative space in between. Daylight was maximized through the integration of all-glass office fronts that also serve to increase visual connectivity between employees. NAI strived to stay true to the strong, traditional nature of their company’s brand while striking a delicate balance between openness and privacy, and traditional and modern office design aesthetic. Their program-specific goals included a feature café space for entertaining, an internal lounge/bar area connected to the existing outdoor balcony, and private office groupings/pods that would promote a sense of collaboration and teamwork while better supporting their daily function and reflecting their unique design aesthetic.
