VW's stunning space

Anyone who comes into Volkswagen Automotive Cloud Redmond Washington Office is blown away by the space, including strategic partners and folks from VW in Europe. “We’ve had some of our colleagues from Germany say that they want to work here now,” says Jarret Rivers, VW’s Facilities Manager. “I think that’s a positive thing.”

Some of Jarret’s favorite features are the timber and glass conference areas with seamlessly integrated technology. He particularly likes the conference area on the mezzanine. “It’s one of our most popular rooms,” he says. “It’s definitely a cool look and feel and it’s getting a lot of use.” The mezzanine is behind Jarret on Zoom calls, so even people nowhere near the office comment on it.

“We were excited about how the timber system felt integrated into the existing warehouse space” says Gensler Designer, Foster Kutner, who used Digital Component Construction for the conference areas, two private offices and a few huddle spaces. “The Falkbuilt team was super helpful in the drawings and getting all the questions answered.”

Foster easily matched the timber from Falkbuilt with existing timber elements in the warehouse space. “We really wanted these mezzanines and offices to feel like they were part of the original store,” says Foster. With Digital Component Construction, she was also able to make the most of every inch of the space. “This was successful due to the low profile cavity required for the structure of the mezzanines.”

The Falkbuilt Detroit Branch enjoyed helping bring the VW vision to life. “In 20-plus years I don’t recall seeing a space this unique,” says Rick Essig of the Detroit Branch.

“To hear people are using it for these meetings and brainstorming, that’s what we want; people to come together, collaborate and interact to foster ideas. That’s why we do what we do and create these spaces, for people to hopefully generate the next awesome thing.”