Nitsch Engineering’s award-winning civil engineering firm has worked with countless architects, so we were honored when they retained MPA to design their new office space. Their previous space at 186 Lincoln Street was spread over 3 floors and failed to reflect their values: advocacy for sustainable site design and a creative, collaborative culture. MPA designed their new space at Two Center Plaza to enhance teamwork, allow for easy team realignments, and serve as a welcoming environment for clients, partners and staff alike.
The design strategy created two zones:
(1) The public zone sits at the front of the suite for reception and meeting spaces. It includes conference and training spaces supporting Nitsch’s ongoing client events, all of which are enabled with audio visual technology. The main training space doubles as the primary office pantry, melding the social hub of the firm with its primary training venue. (2) In the private work zone, MPA pushed all private offices away from the window line in order to provide natural light to the workstation environment. Private offices feature all glass fronts to enhance collaboration with staff and to allow in natural light, and workstation partitions were kept low. This setup allows natural light deep into the suite interior.
Sustainable features
The new lighting system is mainly LED source, including general illumination, down lighting and art/feature lighting. Carpeting that is used throughout the space has a high level of recycled content, as do all ceiling tiles. A bamboo wood (rapidly renewable) feature wall is the primary focus of the new reception area. All workstations are refurbished, reducing energy and material use. New furniture in private offices and throughout the suite are all Green Guard certified. The project is expected to be LEED-Gold certified by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).