Eun worked on the Bellevue, Washington, headquarters of gaming company Valve.
Ask Grace Eun what she has learned in her three years as an associate at Clive Wilkinson Architects(CWA), and she’ll say, “Program first.” As long as clients are confident that the program for a new workplace meets their objectives, Eun explains, “bringing in conceptual things is easy.” So she puts a lot of effort into that phase of a project, clarifying the purpose of every space. “I try to memorize all the programs by heart,” she says. “For Google’s headquarters, we have 1.1 million square feet, but if the clients ask me where some little room is and what its size is, I can remember.”
The Bellevue, Washington, headquarters of gaming company Valve. Courtesy Clive Wilkinson Architects
It’s this kind of focus on detail that has driven Eun through her decade-long career in interior design, first at NBBJ and now at CWA. A rising star in the field, Eun is often asked to speak on topics related to workplace design, especially on sustainability. She has been an adjunct professor at IE University in Spain and is a member of the Engagement Advisory Council of the American Society of Interior Designers, for which she chaired two programs: the Leadership Experience in 2017 and Scale, the national student summit, in 2018. In addition to Google’s headquarters, where CWA is collaborating with Bjarke Ingels Group and landscape firm OLIN, Eun has lent her hand to a number of high-profile workplaces, including Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, and the offices of a gaming company in nearby Bellevue.
A meeting hub at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. Courtesy Clive Wilkinson Architects
In her career, as in her design process, Eun puts purposefulness first. Her advocacy for sustainability, for instance, derives from her childhood experiences in South Korea. “I didn’t come from money; I couldn’t pay for my bus ride to school, so I had to walk more than an hour,” she recalls. “Saving was a big thing for me, and I think it kind of developed my sense of sustainability.” Her frugality merged with environmental consciousness years later, when she worked on a competition entry for the Bullitt Foundation. The vetting process for that super-sustainable building—eventually designed by the Miller Hull Partnership—led her to question the things interior designers do every day. “We specify finishes and materials, but there is no transparency. How can we actually get to that point?”