Eighty years ago, Albert Savage, co-founder of employees-one Canadian insurance and financial services cooperative, endeavored to “grown acorns that will grow into one of the largest oak trees in the cooperative movement”. The HOK team held this idea in the new headquarters of the company, a state-of-the-art institution in Guelph, Ontario, for the interiors of the company, which brings together all operations and over 1,200 employees under one roof. The quote influenced many of the visual information and material selections for the project, which aimed to reflect the principles of the cooperative movement in the work areas. The words are even inscribed as a literal memory of a prominent wall.
“The values, culture and mission of employees differ from those of traditional organizations that really inspired us” Interior design Top 100 Giants, compared to seven last year. HOK has been carbon -neutral since 2022, an award that it shares with cooperatives, which achieved this status in 2020 and regarded this step as an opportunity to achieve even more ambitious environmental goals. By persecution of zero carbon, fountain platinum and Leed gold certifications, the headquarters “The first of its kind in Canada”, says Shawn Fitzgerald, Vice President for Real Estate and Workplace among employees. “The vision should be a catalyst for sustainable construction and design.”
Hok realizes nature into the headquarters of the employees
The three-story, 225,000 square meter building plays an atrium on a campus with Meadow gardens, hiking trails and exercise stations outdoors, around which the rooms are organized, and embodies the “Acorn-to-Oak” metaphor. On the ground floor, curved, walnut walls physically represent the roots of the tree. Nearby shows a hall of framed historical ads as timeline that symbolizes the company's organic growth. And on the upper floor, the ceiling of a collaborative area, which is covered with circular stainless steel plates and littered with circular downleages with circular downlocals, is back in the daply effect of a leaf roof.
An important customer directive was to celebrate the six decades of employees in the city of Guelph, which is located in the southwest of Ontario. “We really wanted to maintain our presence in this community, which we absolutely love and make sure that we continue this long history,” notes Fitzgerald. The context informs several elements, such as B. a steel-and-wood frame that is modeled after one of the oldest surviving, surviving bridges of Canada-and protects a focused workplace under a skylight on the third floor and a lively tailor-made rug in the lobby, whose flooded multicolor pattern on a topographical view of the city in the city.
Living patterns help create an appealing workplace
Several transfer items from the company's past have been translated into visual form. For example, felt boards with tractor tire rails in some walls of the meeting room that respond to the founding meeting with the farmers, while recurring pictures of apples and wheat serve as a memory to use this harvest once as payment. “These are moments in the rich history of the cooperative movement, which is really about supporting people who are part of the organization,” notes Turner. The unmistakable Chevron logo of the employees, which is used everywhere as a way to find away, reaches its apotheosis in the library, where it will replicate with 3,000 plants in a green wall with more than 34 feet wide and 17 large.
As a social and cultural center for the company, the layout of the headquarters promotes what Turner describes as “random collisions” between employees of different departments. On the ground floor, the café soft banquet seating and an adjacent corner has a hanging fireplace, creating a cozy backdrop for conversations about lattes. In the balcony library directly above, long, custom walnut tables serve as a magnets for cooperation during the daylight of Atrium during the day and in integrated desk lamps. The connection of the library with the top level offers a tentile steel staircase with warm wooden levels another location for random encounters and also serves as a striking sculptural focus in the atrium. “It is a way of traveling,” continues Turner, “but also a beacon where people gather and make contacts.”
Lush Greeny Spark's collaboration in this dynamic office
The health and well -being of the employees, especially after pandemic, was another main driver. The spread by the building is deliberately designed to promote activities to ensure that the employees can easily achieve their daily training goals together with the outdoor paths and a fitness studio on site. Work areas for neurodive individuals offer specially tailor-made flexible lighting, calm areas, subdued colors and sensory-friendly texture-only some of the many accessibility and inclusion elements that go beyond the standard code requirements.
Employees aim to achieve a complete net zero status by 2040, and this building represents a significant milestone in this way. It prioritizes environmental goals by specifying Canadically produced, low-carbon materials, intelligent LED lighting, automatic table fold and furniture from sustainable materials. Every successful headquarters reflects the company, which houses it, in a variety of ways – the success of the past successes, current values and culture as well as future visions for both employees and for visitors. This looks back lovingly and courageously dreams, since the growth of the employees is continued “oak tree” and benefits both humans and planets.
See how this HOK office includes sustainability
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Project team
Hok: Kristina Kamenar; Hayley Lavigne; Pia Green; Mostafaei chemistry; Crystal Spong. Neo architecture: Architect of recording. Shoufany Custom Woodworking: Mill work. HH Angus & Associates: Light consultant; Mep. Dorlan Engineering: Structural engineer. Cooper construction: General entrepreneur.
Product sources
From the front Juniper design group: Writing lamps (library), picture lights (gallery). Svend Nielsen: User -defined tables (library), custom shelves (cafeteria), custom pergola (bridge). HAY: Sections (library), side chairs (atrium), sofa (open office). Herman Miller: Side chairs, living chairs (library), tables, circular sofas (atrium), lounge chair (lounge), subsequent (open office), modular seats (bridge), bar stool, table lamps (canopy). In the army: Side tables (library), coffee table (lounge, open office). Creative matters: User -defined carpet (reception). Ellison Studios: Coffee tables. Keilhauer: Sofas (reception), bank (fitness center). Global furniture group: Banette (café). Furniture point: Wood chairs. Armstrong: Wooden ceiling. Juno: Space lighting. Technie: Table (café), modular scaffolding (open office), glass partitioning (canopy). Maxxit: Cleaning (café), ceiling panels (canopy). See + D: Fireplace (fire corner). GUS Modern: Side table. RH contract: Pictoring. Rugable: Carpets (fire corner, lounge). Violinist: Wingback chair (Fire nook), pipe chairs (atrium), lounge chairs (bridge). Momentum textiles & wall covering: Acoustic felt (atrium). Kimball International: Bankette (atrium), standing seat (cafeteria). Koroseal: Wood veneer wall cover (gallery, lounge). Stuff of Andrew Neyer: Sighting (cafeteria). Deco -tile: Terrazzo flooring. Area environments: Stand wall cover. Studio TK: Lounge chairs, side tables (cafeteria), sofas (lounge), barstool (open office). Spec furniture: Stand tables (cafeteria), meter tables (canopy). Pablo design: Pendulance (lounge). Europe: User -defined logo (lounge), custom signage (fitness center), custom wall covering (cafeteria). Hollis+Morris: Linear followers (atrium). Loll designs: Swing chairs (open office). Nanimarquina: CARPET. BuzziSpace: Large trailer fittings (bridge). All over Nydree Flooring: Wooden floors. Sherwin-Williams Company: PAINT.