Marketing Agency’s Office Is Designed for Video Conferencing

The office of digital marketing agency Grow is located in Assembly, a converted department store in Norfolk, Virginia. The building, which was conceptualized and spearheaded by Grow as a result of its own search for office space, specifically leases to creative and tech tenants that share common spaces and building amenities in an effort to connect complimentary companies.

If you haven’t yet done so, we encourage you to read LoopNet’s article on Assembly, found here, to learn more about the building and its concept before taking a closer look at Grow’s own office buildout.

After two years of remote-heavy office work, people aren’t phased by colleagues’ and clients’ housemates occasionally walking through the background of a video call, and they usually even welcome a cute pet making an appearance.

But with many employees now working on hybrid schedules and therefore often communicating with colleagues on a video call while in the office, taking a virtual meeting from a desk can be loud and visually distracting for those on the other end. For Grow, an expanding global digital marketing agency, its new office had to be purpose-built to foster its heavily collaborative environment, both in person and virtually.

The agency, whose client roster includes household name brands such as Google, Adidas and Spotify, also wanted an office that would be an extension of their brand — a space that was “professional but casual, modern but comfortable and approachable, supportive of heads-down work but encouraging of social interaction and collaboration. It needed to be flexible and inspiring at every turn,” Campfire & Co., the interior design firm that was one of the leaders on the project, told LoopNet.

Grow was able to realize those ambitions for its space by not only leasing and designing a new suite, but creating an entire campus that brought its vision for a connected, creative office ecosystem to life: the Assembly building in Norfolk, Virginia, a former department store that was converted into a multi-tenant office hub for creative, startup and tech tenants looking to lease space and share amenities with like-minded companies.

Campfire worked with architecture firm Work Program Architects (WPA), who are also tenants of the Assembly building, on the buildout of Grow’s office suite and Assembly’s common spaces.

The final 8,500-square-foot product is a high energy yet casual and homey office suite that aligns well with the youthful company.

As a company that works with clients across the country and the globe, designing an office to not just have video conferencing but truly support and enhance the experience was key for the firm. The design team built out a total of seven single-person and multi-person conference rooms that can host anywhere from one to 12 employees.

“To make their calls feel as natural as possible, special attention was made to the size and height of the TVs, as well as the wall-mounted cameras. Wire management at the TV wall and at the table were carefully managed so the rooms would feel clean and thoughtful,” described WPA.

And what the client sees from the other end of the call was an important consideration too — making sure the background provided visual interest, instead of a blank wall, without being distracting.

“Although all are designed in the cohesive aesthetic that matches Grow’s lived-in feel, there are variations in furniture, art and finish selections to give each room a different personality that employees can gravitate towards based on their mood,” said WPA.

Since the Grow team had been communicating with clients virtually for years even before the pandemic, it had a strong understanding of its needs; the designers at Campfire said they followed Grow’s cues. “Their IT manager helped guide the technology and we supplied layouts, artwork, wall coverings, acoustic considerations, lighting and more to ensure the visuals that clients see is engaging, but not overwhelming.”

But even in a space geared for video calls, the design team didn’t want the powerful impact of in-person work to fall by the wayside. The firms said they worked particularly diligently to design the office’s small breakout zones, which include moveable white boards that can be taken from a collaboration space and hung between desk dividers or in meeting rooms, for example.

“We have seen that most offices have the most success in integrating both manual and digital ways of working instead of relying only on digital, and Grow is no exception,” said WPA.

In addition to its virtual conference and meeting rooms, the Grow office also includes three mini day offices, one large breakaway room and two smaller breakaway spaces, plus a kitchen café area that is designed to feel like a coffee shop with acoustic panel tiles to mitigate social noise for those who may choose it as a space for individual work.

The interior palette draws on muted colors — "moss green, navy and terracotta complement a foundation of black, white and wood tones,” described Campfire. This is an aesthetic that also matches the design themes throughout the Assembly building. “Additional low-sheen finishes like leather, tweed, wool and tile pair with minimal patterns to create a thoughtful representation of Grow’s humanistic brand.”

WPA said that Grow wanted 60 to 70 desks to allow for the growth of its 50-person company, but “wanted to break down the groupings and scale to avoid an overwhelming visual of a ‘sea of desks.’” The firm constructed custom metal and wood dividers as partitions and interspersed lounge areas with comfortable seating and coffee tables for a relaxed feel.

“It was a fine balance of spaced-out desking areas to keep spaces visually interesting and at an appropriate scale, but not being so scattered that the work areas didn’t feel thoughtful or organized,” said WPA.

The office has its playful moments too, like the porch balcony, which was converted from the department store’s former HVAC room. Employees can take a break on an actual porch swing overlooking Assembly’s central stair and atrium. The spot is a living example of Assembly’s cross-company collaborative philosophy of promoting connections and allowing all tenants to really see each other’s work in action.

Choosing to keep their office in Norfolk, where the company was founded, and to rent space in a renovated historic building with other local creative companies they can support, speaks to how rooted in the history of the city the company is, said WPA.

“The historic backdrop of the Assembly building’s infrastructure feels very lived in and not too stark, but heightened by the fresh finishes and technology to create an innovative and engaging office environment,” said WPA.