Photo credit: Albert Law
Ware Malcomb, an international design firm, today announced construction is complete on the newly re-built Sam Clar Office Furniture corporate office and showroom located at 1221 Diamond Way in Concord, Calif. Ware Malcomb provided architecture, interior design and civil engineering services for the project.
Founded in 1939, Sam Clar Office Furniture is one of the leading providers of commercial office environments in the Bay Area and is now owned and managed by the 4th generation of the Clar family. Construction began last year on the renovation of the company’s 18,922 square foot facility, which was severely damaged in a warehouse fire on Thanksgiving Day in 2015.
Plans for the new facility focused on showcasing the company’s office furniture displays as well as creating an open work space with multiple collaboration areas. The interior design features a mixture of permanent hard wall construction, as well as demountable walls for future flexibility. A living green wall provides a natural accent to the space. The exterior of the building was also completely remodeled to provide a modern and inviting feel, including the addition of new custom steel storefront systems, steel canopies, textured stucco finishes, wood finishes, and new paint. Site improvement work completed for the project included the re-paving and re-striping of the parking lot.
The building design maintained the fire walls that were integral to preventing even further damage at the time of the fire, and a new roof and fire sprinkler system were also installed.
The project is pursuing WELL certification from the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). WELL is the world’s first building standard focused exclusively on human health and wellness, setting performance requirements in seven categories relevant to occupant health in the built environment: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.
“Although Sam Clar hasn’t missed a beat since the fire forced them to operate out of a different facility over the past couple years, it’s exciting for the company to return to this space that has been completely rebuilt to meet the needs of their customers and employees,” said Gary Drew, Regional Vice President of Ware Malcomb’s Pleasanton office. “This family-owned company can look forward to many more generations working out of their new, state-of-the-art corporate office and showroom.”
The General Contractor for the project was Vallee Construction.