Behr Paint's New Headquarters Pays Homage to its Founding in a Wood-Paneled Station Wagon
Imagine a paint company known for a long history of selling an array of paint colors and wood stains toiling away in drab, unimaginative office and industrial buildings.
That’s just what Behr Paint Co. had been doing for years. Then it signed a lease in 2017 to consolidate into 236,000 square feet of Santa Ana, California’s Pacific Corporate Center, a building originally constructed for aerospace company McDonnell Douglas.
The new space presented essentially a blank canvas, one the company could paint in such a way that it could grow and attract top talent. Behr’s brush came from Newport Beach-based interior architecture and planning firm H. Hendy Associates. Now, 650 to 700 employees have moved into an urban-themed office space that highlight the company's historical roots and collaborative work culture.
“It’s a fantastic project for the imagination," said Jennifer Walton, principal and project director at H. Hendy Associates. "It’s not very often you have a client so open to color and its possibilities. There also aren’t that many buildings in Orange County with that kind of large floor plate.”
To understand the design motivation, you have to know a bit about the company’s history. Otho Behr Jr. started the company out of a wood-paneled station wagon in Southern California shortly after the end of World War II. He sold linseed oil to paint stores. Working with his chemist father, Behr created a product that adhered better to redwood, and they started mixing the clear finish and stain in the family garage. In 1948, they moved from the garage to an 800-square foot building in Pasadena, ever expanding from there to become a global company.
Behr’s new entry way and lobby includes a lot of reclaimed wood in a nod toward the company’s beginnings in the station wagon and garage. The wall includes paint colors like a sampling display at a paint store. That feature links the garage with expanding its product line from stains and varnishes to include paint in 1986.
In another nod to its early history, a conference room has more reclaimed wood. A photo of a redwood forest fills a wall. Reclaimed wood appears often throughout the headquarters, including wide planks of live edgewood counters in the company cafeteria along with the wood accents.
The wood also accents a coffee station that’s like a rest stop along a walking path that is meant to invoke the Pacific Coast Highway. Other features in the building were inspired by U.S. Route 66, the famous highway running from California through the Southwest up to Chicago through St. Louis. That’s an homage to the roots of Masterchem, a sister company known for the primer brand Kilz that was founded in St. Louis. Masco Corp., based in Livonia, Michigan, bought Masterchem in 2000, a year after buying Behr.
Those paths “serve as a gateway to unite employees across brands and departments, and reminds them of the company’s rich past as they continue to move the company forward,” Walton said.
What would an office today be without a little fun space? Employees can play ping pong in front of a wall of vibrant colors that bears the company name and logo. It's in the “Behr Den,” an indoor-outdoor area that has a large patio with barbecues and tiered seating. It too has been accented with reclaimed wood, another reminder that the company’s history began with wood stain and finishes.
Staff writer Randyl Drummer contributed to this story.
