Architect David Hacin describes CoLab, an enterprise under the IDEO umbrella, as a “big, flexible space….It’s almost like a mini–conference center that can function quasi-independently of or in collaboration with IDEO.” Courtesy Bob O’Connor
You don’t typically enter an office through a garage door, but at IDEO’s new location in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that’s what employees, clients, and visitors do every day. Passersby can sometimes stumble onto events in the reclaimed space, such as a recent public radio recording. But even when the doors are closed, the windows provide a plain view of workspaces peppered with sketches, Post-its, and prototypes (not to mention dozens of designers working furiously). Preserving the parking garage’s original doors as the entry to the ground-floor design studio is both a symbolic and practical move by Boston-based architecture firm Hacin + Associates—one that supports IDEO’s objective to build a creative office and plant an essential node in Cambridge’s tech start-up community.
In addition to being the social core of the building, the second floor (seen here) supports the critical function of interacting with clients, who increasingly ask to be embedded throughout the design process. Courtesy Bob O’Connor
IDEO is no stranger to the Boston area: In 2007, it moved its office to a Hacin + Associates–designed space in a mid-rise tower in Cambridge from nearby Lexington. IDEO returned to the firm in 2016 when the company was looking to expand and forge a closer connection to the area’s tech scene. Located between engineering powerhouses Harvard and MIT, the new site was ideal. IDEO figured that if the company could draw from the neighborhood’s expertise while offering creative solutions, it could generate new businesses (and clients) in the process. But the move’s success would hinge on the new space’s ability to foster IDEO’s horizontal, multidisciplinary, and quirky work culture. “Our clients are typically coming to us to solve challenges that they’ve tried to [fix] and failed, and so they’re coming to us to say, ‘OK, what is this wild new idea?’” says Rebecca Hornbuckle, partner at IDEO and the Cambridge office’s managing director. “The irreverence and courage here are in service of that.”
The third floor is designated for IDEO employees only and features sit-stand desks as well as comfy seating and project rooms. “We want everyone to see what’s going on, ask questions, be curious, share what they’ve learned,” says Hendrix. Courtesy Bob O’Connor
It’s intentional that this spirit is on full display even before one enters the building. Visible through the garage doors is CoLab, a venture distinct from the regular IDEO offices above. A separate IDEO offering, the CoLab program serves as a revolving door for local tech industry talent. Instead of commissioning IDEO to design new products, services, and experiences for them, companies pay an annual CoLab membership fee to help set CoLab’s research agenda. Along with that, they send their employees to work with CoLab designers in sprints, weeklong whirlwind sessions that produce prototypes that CoLab members can develop into businesses. (Examples include solar panels that log energy credits on a blockchain to monitor their use in the electrical grid, and a small, deployable pharmaceutical dispenser that uses a voice interface to track inventory across clinics.)
Courtesy Bob O’Connor
Flexibility was a key design driver throughout the office, not least in the CoLab space, which, thanks to movable tables and drop-down electrical plugs, adapts to whatever task is at hand. But, says architect David Hacin, the garage doors were the key gesture to communicate that “this is a place that’s part of the public realm,” a different guiding philosophy from that of the old Cambridge office. Now IDEO’s collaborators—past and future—can drop in for industry events or quick chats, so much so that CoLab invites former fellows and members of its broader network to work in the space every Friday. Gian Pangaro, the unit’s creative director, says “having a place that we can actually invite communities in to work with us…helps us establish ourselves” among developers of blockchain, artificial intelligence, and other cutting-edge technologies.
