The Argo Group, an international insurance company, relocated its US headquarters to an existing downtown San Antonio office building. The designers were charged with making the Alamo City office a compatible setting for a corporate collection of art and contemporary furnishings that would equal its New York and London offices. Argo asked that the office also reflect the distinctive regional qualities and climate of San Antonio.The work required demolition and reconstruction on the uppermost four floors of a tower overlooking the San Antonio River and center city skyline. The top floor of the building was established as the location for the main reception space and public areas, arrayed along a north-facing 150-foot long outdoor patio. The reception desk is directly on axis with the elevator lobby, inviting guests to explore the patio seen as its backdrop. The reception area, employee break room, and board room are aligned with the patio to maximize daylight, views, and to encourage informal meetings and activity outdoors, under new blue acrylic sunshades.
The suite of meeting rooms and board room are divided with moveable walls and screens allowing flexible arrangements for large group functions and "town hall" meetings with access to the patio.
Regional materials include strategically placed D’Hannis clay tile walls which bring color and pattern into otherwise neutral spaces. Select Texas Walnut is used in slat walls at the breakroom, and for flooring, cabinets, and trim in executive offices. Limestone floors are used in high traffic areas.
Structure is exposed in many locations to maximize ceiling heights and to make room for coffered ceiling details in several spaces. Custom lighting in executive areas was provided by a local lighting manufacturer.
A new floor penetration is used as a focal point for the installation of sculptures floating between floors. The Argo collection includes works by San Antonio artists as well as artists from the American south, Mexico, and Korea, reflecting Argo’s global interests.
Each of the four floors capitalize on views and maximize daylighting through the use of systems furniture with low partitions that don’t block light or vistas, and provide glimpses of artwork placed throughout the offices. Furnishings include modernist classics and custom designed pieces.
The new Argo offices are both cosmopolitan and representative of a more urbane San Antonio. The patio replaces the chill of London and New York with the appeal of the Alamo city’s all-year-outdoor way of life brought into the urban workplace.
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