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Orange Labs
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Orange Labs
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Orange Labs establishes a high tech R&D facility for France Telecom’s first American outpost. Linking five, one-story industrial buildings under one roof, it re-imagines the contemporary workplace as an open, collaborative, and highly adaptable hub for an emerging tech cohort. Integration of overlapping operations with landscape courtyards breaks down conventional office silos into collaborative workspace that attracts and retains a dedicated and talented workforce.
As a reflection of the company’s fluid operational structure, AW simultaneously developed Orange’s program and mission, and built a relationship between its varied functions and its physical space. Steel and glass courtyards densely planted with bamboo replaced two, six-foot by 100-foot alleyways that had once separated the buildings, now shaping shared landscapes and drawing daylight deep into the space. Glass bridges connect the courtyards to program areas and common space, blurring boundaries between work and play and creating workspace that comfortably operates outside of traditional business hours, in response to the desires of its creative workforce. Finishes chosen for simplicity and sustainability—glass walls, responsibly sourced veneer plywood—are used throughout, while the planted courtyards connect employees to the natural environment and support well-being.
Workspaces employ technology in innovative ways to maximize utilization of specialized areas, most notably the Think Tank, a core area emblematic of Orange’s research and critical to its most public and private functions. Mechanically operated walls allow the Think Tank to expand and contract, providing enormous flexibility within a limited footprint for this high performance space, converting it from auditorium to conference area, to research library, to secure brainstorming space.
As an early model of the Creative Workplace, Orange’s impact on the local research community was significant. Staff retention far surpassed initial goals for the innovative project, a fact the company attributes directly to its multi-faceted new workspace. By designing a project that incorporates multiple, interwoven functions, AW shaped a facility that operates efficiently while architecturally communicating the innovation, accessibility, and clarity that drive Orange’s business and inspire its employees.
Orange received the Architectural Record/Business Week Award for innovation in design that creates tangible business impact and became a model for other Orange workspaces around the world.
The Orange Labs program consists of three distinct but interwoven business models: Think Tank, Venture Capital, and Incubator. Alleyways that had divided the existing buildings were opened up and replaced with six luminous steel and glass atria that form thresholds between the business operations, allowing Orange Labs to operate as a single 25,000 square foot enterprise. While the atria effectively separate the three elements of the program, they also unify them. The glass volumes are planted with a dense stand of bamboo and create common landscapes open to the sky and weather, drawing daylight and seasonal elements deep into the space.
Central to Orange’s operation is the Think Tank, a core space with bookshelf walls that mechanically expand and contract as needed. When the walls contract, the room functions as an intimate brainstorming space. When the walls expand, it grows to become a state-of-the-art lecture space.
Our firm designed custom furniture pieces as well as a modular plywood desk system for this project. The modular system allows for multiple configurations and the creation of collaborative working environments.
Photos by Florian Holzherr
As a reflection of the company’s fluid operational structure, AW simultaneously developed Orange’s program and mission, and built a relationship between its varied functions and its physical space. Steel and glass courtyards densely planted with bamboo replaced two, six-foot by 100-foot alleyways that had once separated the buildings, now shaping shared landscapes and drawing daylight deep into the space. Glass bridges connect the courtyards to program areas and common space, blurring boundaries between work and play and creating workspace that comfortably operates outside of traditional business hours, in response to the desires of its creative workforce. Finishes chosen for simplicity and sustainability—glass walls, responsibly sourced veneer plywood—are used throughout, while the planted courtyards connect employees to the natural environment and support well-being.
Workspaces employ technology in innovative ways to maximize utilization of specialized areas, most notably the Think Tank, a core area emblematic of Orange’s research and critical to its most public and private functions. Mechanically operated walls allow the Think Tank to expand and contract, providing enormous flexibility within a limited footprint for this high performance space, converting it from auditorium to conference area, to research library, to secure brainstorming space.
As an early model of the Creative Workplace, Orange’s impact on the local research community was significant. Staff retention far surpassed initial goals for the innovative project, a fact the company attributes directly to its multi-faceted new workspace. By designing a project that incorporates multiple, interwoven functions, AW shaped a facility that operates efficiently while architecturally communicating the innovation, accessibility, and clarity that drive Orange’s business and inspire its employees.
Orange received the Architectural Record/Business Week Award for innovation in design that creates tangible business impact and became a model for other Orange workspaces around the world.
The Orange Labs program consists of three distinct but interwoven business models: Think Tank, Venture Capital, and Incubator. Alleyways that had divided the existing buildings were opened up and replaced with six luminous steel and glass atria that form thresholds between the business operations, allowing Orange Labs to operate as a single 25,000 square foot enterprise. While the atria effectively separate the three elements of the program, they also unify them. The glass volumes are planted with a dense stand of bamboo and create common landscapes open to the sky and weather, drawing daylight and seasonal elements deep into the space.
Central to Orange’s operation is the Think Tank, a core space with bookshelf walls that mechanically expand and contract as needed. When the walls contract, the room functions as an intimate brainstorming space. When the walls expand, it grows to become a state-of-the-art lecture space.
Our firm designed custom furniture pieces as well as a modular plywood desk system for this project. The modular system allows for multiple configurations and the creation of collaborative working environments.
Photos by Florian Holzherr
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