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Bamboo Coworking Grand Rapids
Bamboo Coworking Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, MI, United States
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Other Projects by SYNECDOCHE
Bamboo Coworking Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2025
SIZE
25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft
BUDGET
$1M - 5M
What does it look like when coworking moves into an art gallery? Not a conventional office retrofit with a few infill partitions and common areas to lounge — but a genuine proposition: a gallery, with its expansive concrete volumes and civic street presence, is actually the ideal vessel for how people prefer to work, connect, and engage.
The coworking and event space occupies a purpose-built art gallery in downtown Grand Rapids. At 35,000 SF, it comprises one-third of the original 11-story development, including apartments and public parking. The challenge was adapting the wide corridors, high ceilings, expansive surface areas, various coves for art display, and large atriums to accommodate office space while preserving the volumes and characteristics that make the space unique. Rather than fight the building's character, the design leans into it entirely. The concrete stays exposed. The scale stays honest. Against the existing backdrop, a series of precisely designed interventions creates warmth, enclosure, and identity room by room.
Of the four double-height volumes, a single area was infilled to create additional private offices to meet the coworking model's programmatic needs. Intensive iterations between the architect and the client optimized building utilization while avoiding the initial tendency to infill all floors to maximize area. The strategic design process included real estate (as development partners), business modeling (through program and proforma), construction sequencing (phase and respond), detailing between existing and new construction, and local creative partnerships (art curation, local furniture vendor). The architectural work is evidence of the firm's deliberate, interdisciplinary efforts throughout the project.
Visitors enter through a welcome zone intentionally designed to contrast with the building's industrial austerity — a sculptural reception desk upholstered in rich burgundy, anchored by a dark Corian top, sets the tone. Pockets of space not large enough for a program or small enough to infill, provided the proper scale for small touch-down work areas defined with wood millwork, accent lighting, and adjustable furniture arrangements.
The Vault, a stepped amphitheater, activates a previously recessed and disconnected double-height space as both a casual coworking perch and a 100-person event venue; its presence and corner positioning now connect the platform to the street through the floor-to-ceiling glass. The Kiln Room, a conference room with burgundy drapery and stone-like monolithic wall panels, envelops the lower-level space. In a building of large volumes and active spaces for connections, this space deliberately recedes from the building's language, creating a sensory counterpoint.
Materials were selected to complement the building's scale and institutional presence: polished concrete floors, durable custom millwork, rich textiles, and wood-fiber acoustic panels. The approach reflects a commitment to design for economy, maximizing spatial richness without altering core building systems, and design for well-being, prioritizing natural light through abundant windows to private offices and between spaces, biophilic elements, and acoustic treatments across the five floors. In a city actively rebuilding its downtown, the project makes the case for design for equitable communities: coworking, done boldly, as civic infrastructure with complementary programming; visible, welcoming, and genuinely alive.
The coworking and event space occupies a purpose-built art gallery in downtown Grand Rapids. At 35,000 SF, it comprises one-third of the original 11-story development, including apartments and public parking. The challenge was adapting the wide corridors, high ceilings, expansive surface areas, various coves for art display, and large atriums to accommodate office space while preserving the volumes and characteristics that make the space unique. Rather than fight the building's character, the design leans into it entirely. The concrete stays exposed. The scale stays honest. Against the existing backdrop, a series of precisely designed interventions creates warmth, enclosure, and identity room by room.
Of the four double-height volumes, a single area was infilled to create additional private offices to meet the coworking model's programmatic needs. Intensive iterations between the architect and the client optimized building utilization while avoiding the initial tendency to infill all floors to maximize area. The strategic design process included real estate (as development partners), business modeling (through program and proforma), construction sequencing (phase and respond), detailing between existing and new construction, and local creative partnerships (art curation, local furniture vendor). The architectural work is evidence of the firm's deliberate, interdisciplinary efforts throughout the project.
Visitors enter through a welcome zone intentionally designed to contrast with the building's industrial austerity — a sculptural reception desk upholstered in rich burgundy, anchored by a dark Corian top, sets the tone. Pockets of space not large enough for a program or small enough to infill, provided the proper scale for small touch-down work areas defined with wood millwork, accent lighting, and adjustable furniture arrangements.
The Vault, a stepped amphitheater, activates a previously recessed and disconnected double-height space as both a casual coworking perch and a 100-person event venue; its presence and corner positioning now connect the platform to the street through the floor-to-ceiling glass. The Kiln Room, a conference room with burgundy drapery and stone-like monolithic wall panels, envelops the lower-level space. In a building of large volumes and active spaces for connections, this space deliberately recedes from the building's language, creating a sensory counterpoint.
Materials were selected to complement the building's scale and institutional presence: polished concrete floors, durable custom millwork, rich textiles, and wood-fiber acoustic panels. The approach reflects a commitment to design for economy, maximizing spatial richness without altering core building systems, and design for well-being, prioritizing natural light through abundant windows to private offices and between spaces, biophilic elements, and acoustic treatments across the five floors. In a city actively rebuilding its downtown, the project makes the case for design for equitable communities: coworking, done boldly, as civic infrastructure with complementary programming; visible, welcoming, and genuinely alive.
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