A lot of offices these days include a gym so that a company’s employees can be healthy, fit and happy. However, this is the first office I’ve come by that includes a gym that incorporates Wii Fit sessions. Filled with natural light, brightly colored walls, and a Collaboratory®, the (add)ventures offices are a space you won’t want to miss. Take an inside look behind the design and offices behind a work + play environment.

Interview by Sayeh Pezeshki, Editor/Founder of TheOfficeStylist with (add)ventures President + Chief Executive Officer Steve Rosa

Describe your office space to us.

(add)ventures headquarters was conceived as a client partner escape place where our team can think, work and play. Every detail of our headquarters, designed by the staff of (add)ventures, was created to help our client partners and employees generate their best ideas, formulate their best strategies, produce their best work and enjoy every second doing it.

Original elements of our building’s architecture – such as wood-paneled ceilings, vintage glass blocks and exposed brick — were incorporated into the new design. The old vault, once impermeable storage for raw gold, is now the space for our (add)motion edit bays – where the loud music tracks and voiceovers can be played without interrupting the rest of the space.

Natural light was a key requirement in the design – so keeping large windows, adding skylights and installing transom glass at least 7 feet up on the wall enabled light to flow into interior spaces. Exposed ductwork and pipes create openness.

The walls are painted with vibrant tones of gold and blue to incorporate the (add) ventures brand, and are accented with “fusion green” to spark creativity.

Among our featured space is the Collaboratory®, a proprietary ideation and hospitality function space; the Causeway, our social impact gallery; Cinco Bistro, a multicultural taste test kitchen; and Onset Blues, our on-site studio with a cyclorama, which gives the “infinity” look in video productions.

My office, dubbed the “board room” because of its surfboard coffee table, is a comfy chairs and couch-filled room with no traditional desk. I like to be mobile to best collaborate with team members throughout our office space.

And with all the hard work we do at (add)ventures, we require that the space encourage “play” — on our rooftop deck named “South Beach” (an homage to our Florida office), and in the “Olympic” gym, where the Wii Fit is housed and group fitness sessions take place.

What makes (add)ventures’ space cool is not just what you see, but the energy you feel. While its interior design and physical layout are impressive, its true magic lies in the power of great people coming together to achieve great things. The space is often home to community group meetings, professional association board meetings and as an oasis for those seeking a place where they can think creatively.

Where did the inspiration for your office space design come from?

Our new headquarters, opened in July 2008, is located in a renovated jewelry manufacturing plant in the emerging Harborside District of Providence, and the design of the space was inspired by some of the building’s original architectural elements, as well as our growing company’s need for an environment that brought together our creative and strategic services.

The driving concept for our new headquarters was to create a “work, think and play” sanctuary for staff, client partners and the community. The workspace needed to function so that creative and strategic professionals could be in a relaxing and productive environment. The space also has flexible rooms for large strategic planning sessions with our client partners. These rooms, decorated and named in honor of (add) ventures legendary parties, like “Mardi Gras” and “Spring Break,” have whiteboards, plasma TVs and wireless access to the internet.

What is your favorite part/design of your office space and why?

I especially love our rooftop deck that we call South Beach in an homage to our Miami hub. The deck brings nature and a little vacation fantasy into the workplace. There is a view of our great city that no one else in Providence enjoys. The only other high vantage points on our side of the city are from hospital rooms where people are too sick or stressed to fully enjoy the amazing skyline at sunset. I see a lot of productive ideas generated and laughs shared on the the South Beach rooftop deck. This may sound cheesy, but when I see employees out on the deck, I honestly feel like a proud father watching kids having fun and building confidence in the back yard.

Do you feel that having a well designed and inspiring office has changed the way you and your employees work?

Yes. As cool as it looks and as much as we enjoy our HQ, the design has improved our daily processes and efficiency 100 fold. We designed our space the way we design solutions for clients – with a purpose. It’s not cool for coolness sake. The true sexiness of our designs, whether it is an environment we create or a campaign we launch, is not just how it looks but what it empowers you to do. Our HQ helps us live the (add)ventures brand, mission and values. It helps us solve problems and make people happy.

In our old space, our creative and strategy teams were in separate wings due to the limitations of the layout. Here, we gutted everything and built a walkway/gallery to attach a second building that would unify our teams as well as integrate our think, work and play spaces. We call it the causeway and it is a daily reminder that our firm exists to do much more than make money. It is a social impact gallery of the vital work our clients do around the world and how we help. It also spotlights the (add)ventures social impact program, (add)love, where our firm donates and employees volunteer to help causes our clients and community believe in.

I love our convergence spaces that bring our strategic and creative teams together and inspire genius solutions to client problems. Our collaboratory wing allows our client partners to bring their entire department to ideate alongside our multidisciplinary teams in a creative sanctuary where they become truly open to innovation possibilities. We facilitate proprietary SOLVEsessions there that help people envision the future and “solve to evolve.

Tell us about (add)ventures and what it means to you to have a well-designed office space.

(add)ventures is a multidisciplinary communications firm headquartered in Providence, R.I. with offices in Miami, New York City and Estonia. (add)ventures combines strategic intelligence and creative genius to inform, inspire, recruit and retain brand stakeholders. The company works with Fortune 500 companies, industry and innovation leaders, leading universities, major non-profits, and governments to create unique, multidisciplinary brand communications. The (add) in (add)ventures represents the aligned dynamic disciplines of brand stakeholder communications – marketing, branding, public relations, advertising, and corporate, cause and employee communications – all services that (add)ventures integrates to build brands and brand loyalty.

(add)ventures HQ feels like a family home. That is what we wanted for our employees every day – to feel appreciated and valued. We offer a welcoming workplace that they are proud to share with our client partners which helps them think bigger and produce work they are proud of. We added play space where we can celebrate our victories which is important in a deadline-driven business where the greatest reward is more challenging work and often tighter deadlines. Think, work and play space – the (add)ventures HQ has all that and more. Great people coming together in a sanctuary to think bigger, act bolder and make life better.

BTW, If you have a stylish, modern or innovative office  you want to feature on TheOfficeStylist, or you need help transforming your space, please email us at hi@theofficestylist.com. Located in LA? We’d love to stop by and take photos of your space and profile your business. Love this Office Profile? Take a look at the other Office Profiles we have on TheOfficeStylist.

Sayeh

The Office Stylist

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