design is
reflective
Design Firm: MCM Interiors Ltd
Project Name/Client: Electronic Arts - Phase 2
Project Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada
Products: First In Line Tile, Gravel Tile, Fault Lines Tile, Asphalt Tile, Strapless Tile, Dark Glasses Tile
What is Design?
Design reflects the client's business, who they are, what they do, and supports their business work place strategies/goals.
Electronic Arts (EA), the world’s leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software, challenged the project team to design the next generation of high performance work space for EA’s game development studio expansion. “If the EA Phase I building completed in 1999 was version 1.0, then the new Phase II studio building is to be version 4.0”. The project drivers for the design of the studio included:
• Help Attract & Retain the best industry talent
• Foster and celebrate creativity & innovation
• Become a world class facility
• Optimize efficiency- site, building utilization, building systems, energy management
• Enhance Communication, Community, Culture
How is Design best illustrated through the project?
The design concept is inspired by EA’s business of game development and draws parallels between elements that are just as important to creating interactive video games as they are to creating architecture and design: Light, Movement, Colour/Graphics/Pixelization, Scale, Super reality/dreamlike quality, Texture and Nature. The design concept themes were integrated, and articulated throughout the interior design of the studio. Each floor highlights one of the themes through the useage of finishes, materials, lighting, Art Graphics and specialty designed workstations located in key focal point areas on each floor. A stair spirals through the building’s central atrium connecting the five floors. In the center of the stair is a photo-luminescent light tape sculpture, inspired by one of EA’s games SSX, in which a snowboard’s movements are tracked by a blue light as the boarder races down the mountain. The light tape flips, twists and turns creating an interactive experience as one travels up and down the stair. All signage includes pixelized graphics, and meeting rooms are named to emphasize the floor themes.
Biggest Design Challenge?
The biggest design challenge involved creating an environment that was rich in creativity, graphics, interactivity, and user interface. All important elements of video game design.
Layers of interactivity were woven into the project with the large Atrium space that spans the entire length of the Building, and spilts that floor into 2 sections of studio space. Streets, and bridges connect staff from one building to the next, and highlight movement thru the buildings. Staff can see activity concentrated around the streets on each floor, and radiating from the central stairs linking all 5 floors.
What made it Innovative or Unique?
The Phase II building is a total of 175,000 sq. ft. The ground floor includes shared campus amenity spaces; a Fitness health & wellness center, Think Tank a lounge/café with Starbucks coffee bar, classroom style theater for 175 people, Conference centre & EA University training facility, and catering kitchen. The four floors of game development studio are comprised of a variety of workspaces; meeting rooms, collaborative breakout areas, EA’s concept art display walls, Audio rooms, Video edit rooms, and daily testing rooms.
Health & Wellness is an important quality of life which Electronic Arts values highly. Sports and outdoor activities are a huge contributor to the culture of EA’s organization, which is the largest developer of sports related video games, a culture that is supported by the design of their campus amenity facilities. EA’s campus expansion included a FIFA regulation sized soccer field, outdoor basketball, volleyball courts and an 18,000 sq. ft. Health & Wellness centre named RecrEAte.
How did Design make a difference?
The design of the Phase II studio building incorporated many design features that focus on the quality of life for EA’s employees, including amenity spaces, ergonomic workstation furniture, high performance building systems for Mechanical and Electrical distribution, energy efficiency, smaller HVAC and lighting zones give EA’s staff better control over their indoor environment.
Access to natural light and spectacular views is an important design feature of the Phase II Studio Building, as it contributes significantly to the connection employees have to the beauty of the outdoor environment. The building is sited to take full advantage of the amazing North shore and Burnaby Mountain views, with diffused north light for the many Artists groups located in the Game Development studio areas. The planning configuration of the workstations on a 45 degree angle creates view corridors to the exterior mountains from the centre of the building and circulation streets. An Atrium, that spans the entire length of the building with clerestory windows above, allows natural light to wash the interior circulation streets located along the Atrium, natural light penetrates deep into the interior spaces, including the Ground floor. A large outdoor deck located on the fourth floor is a green roof, complete outdoor furniture, trees, grassy areas, and contemplative spaces with views to the mountains.
