Builders Asphalt

An exquisite space with the design-forward essence of a Silicon Valley high-tech office.

The Applied Ergonomics team designed, specified, and procured the flooring, tile, millwork, and decorative lighting. In collaboration with the client’s residential stylist, Laura Flynn of Element Design, who joined on aspects of the project, the team designed and provided all of the furniture to embed ergonomic sophistication into the workspaces.

Together with the client we developed an art program — abstract art, artistic photography with roads as their theme, and our own professionally shot photographs of the client’s newest facilities and vehicles — as a common thread to tie everything together and reflect the spirit of the company.

Early on, flooring was chosen and the ideation began for the millwork panelling in the conference room and president’s office. Inspired by a design from Scandinavia, the team created models of the wall and ceiling millwork — the slatted wood ceiling here is that work built.

To complement the 13-foot ceilings in reception and the conference room, a light was customized over the conference table to balance the volume of the space. A standard fixture in a room this tall reads as an afterthought; the proportion had to be drawn, not ordered.

The photographs on the wall are the client’s own plant, shot for this room.

The workstations and private offices feature Tayco Cosmo panel systems and Metro casegoods, paired with Applied Ergonomics’ own line of the time, ergoFocus.

Workstations are 9.5′ × 9.5′ with an 88″ × 29″ height-adjustable main surface and a 90″ × 36″ rear surface — sized so a set of construction documents can be laid out flat, which is what the photograph shows. Offices have an oversized 78″ × 78″ curved corner desk, all height adjustable.

These sizes are almost impossible for furniture dealers to accomplish with height-adjustable bases.

The task chairs, monitor arms, power bars and laptop risers throughout the building are ergoFocus — our own line. Builders Asphalt is where it went in at full scale.

The ergoFocus task seating was designed by Martin Ballandat, a well-known furniture designer. We no longer make that chair. The monitor arms, power bars and laptop risers continue under our Ergo Snob brand.

We mention it for two reasons. The first is that it is the reason the desks work: a height-adjustable surface with the monitor sitting on it is only half an answer — the screen has to travel too, the chair has to support the change in posture, and the power has to arrive where the person is rather than where the floor box happens to be. Specifying our own chair and accessories meant those decisions were ours to get right rather than left to whatever arrived in the last box.

The second is that a private label is usually where a dealer hides a cheap chair. Ours was not that. We put a designer’s name on the seating because we had one to put there.

The Applied Ergonomics team has found that as beautiful as any space may be, until there’s art on the walls it feels unfinished. The company’s president requested photographs of their newest plant, so Jeff Meltzer and Laura Flynn selected and led professional photographers on two shoots to capture images for display in the offices.

Following post-production, the images were printed and framed locally for the boardroom, stairwell, and private offices. A full-wall mural was also created for a prominent corner of the open area on the first floor.