Octagon in McLean, Virginia by TPG Architecture

Article source: TPG Architecture 

As a division of the international media and advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group, the Octagon Agency is one of the premiere agencies in the United States that develops and manages sports, entertainment and event marketing and advertising.  Octagon commissioned TPG Architecture, based in New York, to update and redesign their flagship office in suburban Washington DC, for approximately 125 employees. TPG has a longstanding relationship with Interpublic, and has designed many other of its media companies.

Image Courtesy © TPG Architecture

• Architects: TPG Architecture
• Project: Octagon
• Location: McLean, Virginia

Image Courtesy © TPG Architecture

The overarching directive from Octagon was to provide a timeless, contemporary office interior while at the same time reflecting the excitement and dynamic nature of their clientele; with accounts like Michael Phelps, Felix Hernandez, Piers Morgan and The Grammy Awards, there is always something interesting, fun and/or enticing going on in the office.

Image Courtesy © TPG Architecture

Located in McLean, Virginia, where the company leases 25,000 square-feet in a building owned and mostly occupied by Gannett Media.  It’s an unusual building, designed by KPF in the 70’s, with a narrow, elbow shaped footprint, which allows for many window offices but has an awkward floorplate at several points as well.

Image Courtesy © TPG Architecture

TPG’s design team developed several strong interventions to a traditional layout with private offices along corridors and window walls, focusing design efforts at the entrance sequence and around the company’s conference rooms. They also paid special attention to the “Octapen,” an open, public space on the south wall that includes a pantry, lunch and eating areas, a pool table, video games and a custom-designed ping pong table.  The introduction of large-scale graphics, designed by TPG’s in-house graphics department, brought the agency the color and visual interest that they had requested.

Image Courtesy © TPG Architecture

A custom-designed reception desk with a bold Octagon graphic greets everyone coming in: here the number 8 in red works as the letter “G”, a double entendre on the name.  A palette of white, bright red, black and wood is established at reception, and it is repeated throughout the office. The wall behind reception and the adjacent wall burst with a swoop of black, a huge red number 8, and oversized images of people playing tennis, playing basketball, speaking, playing ice hockey, entertaining, snowboarding, etc.; it is a very energizing graphic. Although most of TPG’s work is designing interiors and architecture, the firm has a very active graphic design staff that enhances and adds branding to many corporate spaces with environmental graphics. As people move into the space, a shallow seating area, furnished with mid-century modern furniture, backs the smallest of three conference rooms, all of which have glass walls so that meetings and conferences are all very visible.

Image Courtesy © TPG Architecture

Moving through the conference rooms, the designers added more graphics in the form of a bright red wall outside of the largest conference room, which is the backdrop for a grid of Octagon’s client photos and constantly changing images.

Image Courtesy © TPG Architecture

Tags: Mclean, Virginia

Categories: Office space, Offices

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