Spacestor Chicago Design Center
An experiential and destination space for architects, designers and workplace strategists looking to discover ways to create enriching and beautifully designed spaces that attract talent.
Location
The Mart, Chicago
built by
Spacestor

At the heart of Chicago's design scene stands the iconic Merchandise Mart, home to Spacestor's most recent showroom launch. Right from the entrance, the space provides the initial warmth of welcome and provokes a sense of discovery. Starting with the impactful, ombre Palisades II curved configuration, it is the physical embodiment of the new times we are entering where lines are softly drawn, both between home and professional life and between modes of working. The lightening hues of pink towards the top suggests an optimism to a brighter future.

“ The space symbolizes new beginnings and optimism, creating room for the individual within the whole. The showroom is a base-camp for connection that encourages flexible and sustainable environments for an inspiring future ”
Marianne Paulsen, Lead Designer, Gather Research & Design

In the entry area as you move into the space, the overall look and feel continues a 'homey' vibe. Palisades Luxe with its polish brass look, mirror accessory and warm colored shelves and alcoves provide a very residential feel, enhanced by the relaxed look of the Snugglestor, encouraging employees to sit down, take some time out and just catch up. Moving through the space, the kitchen area becomes a gathering point to socialize and provide a base-camp for visitors to the design centre, situated near to the ever-popular Railway Carriage, which not only provides further breakout space, but aptly demonstrates the acoustic properties of the pod being situated so near to the hive of social activity.

Set right at the heart of the design center, the spray-lacquered dark green Verandas configuration is a demonstration of space creation without building walls. The Creative den space provides designers with an area to bring their clients and hold a full workshop, utilizing every surface to bring their visions to reality. Complete with a display screen set into the Palisades Grid, a cork wall for design and inspiration pins, a plywood pegboard, and a soft Palisades II feature with curtains to provide further display space, the area allows creative teams to have the resources for a truly creative session right at their fingertips.

Fluid, flexible, and future-proof, Arcadia takes inspiration from timeless architectural forms to provide a new interior landscaping and space-making toolkit for the workspace. Deceptively simple in concept – using just 5 classic geometric building blocks, each piece is engineered for inter-compatibility, to allow the creation of a vast choice of landscapers and space-makers – from private Cloisters, to spacious Pantheons in almost unlimited combinations.

 Arcadia’s organic shapes and soft forms have been specifically crafted to be globally familiar, yet not highly directive, allowing instant creation and landscaping of spaces with classic Colonnades, Portals, Pantheons, Forums, Rotundas and Cloisters – without building walls. The modular kit of parts construction, pure geometric shapes and patented quick release joining system means shapes can be reused and reconfigured over and over again to experiment, evolve or just have fun as we adapt to our ever changing present.

 


 


 

Demonstrating its use as a multi-functional piece of furniture, every side and space of the Verandas has its own purpose. Using the same kit of parts, Spacestor have created a meeting room with built-in lighting, ventilation and AV, a private phonebooth on the side, a whiteboard brainstorming wall on the outside of the meeting room, and a quiet touchdown nook.  The design choices throughout this space truly encapsulate Spacestor’s philosophy that a focus on wellbeing and personal experience is essential to attracting and retaining great talent. As Russell Kingston, US Managing Director at Spacestor said; "Another milestone in Spacestor’s journey: opening a showroom in the iconic Merchandise Mart, at the heart of Chicago’s design scene. It’s been very well received with hundreds of visitors through the doors on day one. What we’re creating are spaces that are destinations, they’re experiences, and this new design center is a showcasing of our flexible ancillary furniture solutions as answers to current workplace needs. This is all about creating enriching spaces that people want to come to in an attractive and sustainable way.”