A colorful multi-level work space that links human senses, nature, and technology

Jane Juranek Dec 22, 2021
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The new design of Capital One corporate headquarters in downtown Toronto aligns with the company’s goals to inject ingenuity, simplicity, and humanity into an industry ripe for change. By linking the five levels of the 103,000 square foot office space with corridors bisecting the floors, the design team created a unique experience that gave employees flexibility and choice in their work space to foster a creative process for all work styles.

Interior Designer: Jane Juranek, ARIDO

Design Firm: IBI Group Architects (Canada)

Design Team: Mahsa Saeedi, ARIDO

Project Photographer: Ben Rahn, A Frame Studio

A communal work/lounge area with desks and colorful benches in the foreground and offices and meeting rooms in the background

The scope of work included programming and pre-design, schematic design, design development, bidding and negotiation, construction administration, post construction, construction documents and specifications

A communal lounge/cafeteria area with modern colorful seating and stunning views of the city spanning around the entire space through full length windows.

Inspiration began with the office’s dramatic city views of the underdeveloped adjacent rail lands and the potential re-animation with the rail deck park project in the heart of the city. The design team applied the same approach by reintroducing linking corridors bisecting the floors and thus reclaiming underutilized space.

Modern colorful orange sitting booths for lounging or working, found along the long white corridors.

In order to create a unique, immersive experience for each of the five levels, an internal zone, typically used for storage/back of house, was transformed into links that act as the connective tissue within the premises.

Another corridor featuring modern colorful benches in blue found along the long white corridors.

These links were defined by the following terms: In-Stinct, In-Line, In-Time In-Focus and In-Sight.

“In-Stinct”, the emotional response, features a blue floating, fluid structure that supports interaction that frames, navigates and separates activities.

“In-Line”, inspired by discussions surrounding rail deck based green spaces, forms an urban parkette, bringing the outside in.

“In-Focus”, is the interaction of technology and scale through light, colour, and geometry.

“In-Sight”, derives from fractal geometric patterns, as seen in nature.

Alternative team space meant for tech huddles and creative thinking, with large bar height surface and writable walls all around.

Each link uses saturated colour to define the space and contrast with the white envelope. The punches of colour throughout the space connect each link and evoke an emotional response. Alternative team spaces were designed to support tech huddles/scrums for creative thinking. These spaces include writable walls with embedded technology and branding.

This project was awarded an ARIDO Award of Merit in 2019.