Call in a Temp

“Call in a Temp,” a “workplace” feature by Edie Cohen in Interior Design’s May 2004 issue, profiles Nexspace’s 17,000-square-foot facility on the 17th floor of a Westwood office tower “chosen for its class — a renovated status and panoramic view stretching to the Pacific Ocean.” Design was by Beckson Design Associates (BDA); director of design Steven Heisler explains the brief was to “appeal to a broad spectrum, from legal and financial firms to young marketing types and production companies,” without taking “the boring middle ground.”

The article credits Nexspace CEO David Agger as having initially considered the loftlike, converted-warehouse aesthetic before BDA developed a concrete-floor, exposed-ceiling industrial language with fiberglass-reinforced plastic partitions on galvanized-steel studs. The design team drew on “the idea of emergence… nascence… a chrysalis,” using a translucent partition system to divide the floor into 39 communal “development rooms” accommodating two to fourteen people each, furnished identically with MDF work surfaces, Aeron chairs, and raw-steel file cabinets — a uniformity Heisler says makes it “easier to move people than walls.” Individual “front porch” work spaces line the windows outside the development rooms, and a trio of conference rooms includes one with a “smart wall” combining a 50-inch monitor and electronic dry-erase board around a maple-topped table.

The reception area mixes design-forward seating — Charles and Ray Eames’ Wire-Base chairs, a Verner Panton chair, Alvar Aalto stools, Karim Rashid’s Blob chair, Ron Arad’s T. Vac chair, and a rubber-coated foam chair nicknamed “Asylum” — with an Eames plywood coffee table and a tabletop made for a bowling alley. The piece closes by noting Nexspace had reached 98 percent occupancy, quoting Heisler: “Visits show it working like we envisioned. Doors are open, and companies share information. ‘We do your Web material. You do our marketing.’”

A contact block lists Nexspace at 1100 Glendon Avenue, 17th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90024, contact person David Agger, alongside a full furniture and materials credit list crediting suppliers including ICF Group, Vitra, Herman Miller (through Jules Seltzer Associates), Knoll, and Hubbell Lighting, and general contractor Pinnacle Contracting Corporation.