Focused on the creation of a corporate home for a new Allsteel furniture dealership - the goal of this project was to capture the energy and personality of the business and its owners. A primary challenge was to encourage people to wander down the 60 feet of inactive building corridor leading to this new business's front door.

Central to the design of the space (and the approach to it) are two elements - a 3-foot thick 18-foot long focal wall and a contrasting wood slat element. The thick wall is grounded, solid, clad in cold-rolled steel and birch panels. It divides space - separating the main conference room from the entry area. The slat element captures space. It is ephemeral, transparent, illuminated from behind. It curls up and becomes a ceiling as well as sliding "through" the entry glass and into the hall making it at once the first element of the project visitors come in contact with and also the frame for the focal point at the end of the entry sequence.

The clients brought forward the suggestion of a fireplace - an interesting elaboration on the idea of "home office." When venting issues prohibited real combustion the question became, "Now what?" The answer, "Build a hearth anyway." Features such as the wooden sliding rear panel were made possible by the elimination of constraints associated with creating a functioning fireplace. Cast glass "logs" created by a local artist, David Foster, capture the essence of fire - a playful punctuation point.