Designer Spotlight

Power Office

When the design team at Howard-Sneed reinvents office space, there's not a mahogany desk in sight.

If anything could convince you that metropolitan San Diego is saturated with glamour and power, it would be the law offices of Bill Lerach—that is, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, a 180-person firm known for major class-action securities lawsuits like the one against Enron.

The Broadway offices atop a seven-story high-rise have enough hush and glass to render Ugly Betty speechless—but they’re not what you’d expect. Created by Howard-Sneed Architecture and Design, there’s nothing clubby here: no heavy furniture or thick-pile carpets, no dark-wood walls or impenetrable doors. The space is flooded with light, open and modern.

“Class-action attorneys don’t have clients coming to their office,” says Janice Howard, president, “so this design was strictly done for the pleasure of the people who spend the majority of their day here.”

Howard, an interior designer, founded the 16-person company 21 years ago. Her two partners, Anne Sneed and Donald Kachur, are both architects; Sneed spearheads design, and Kachur handles technical production.

They bring an artistic approach to an office’s functionality. From lighting to furniture, the aesthetic is similar to designing a residence. It reflects the tenet that in the 21st century, office workers want to feel at home when they’re at work.

As one exits the elevator, sightlines extend through glass doors in both directions to the outside. Pendant lights by Artemide hang overhead like white glass clouds.

At the far end of the reception area, a wide, open corridor leads along three conference rooms. “What’s really different,” Howard says, “is there are no [solid] walls between the conference rooms.” Instead, glass walls allow the lawyers to see through on all sides—and out to a view of the Embarcadero. For privacy, simple heavy white cotton curtains glide shut.

The commercial furniture was chosen for comfort; it’s very stylized but completely functional. The solid-surface conference table is pure white, with power and communication technology built in. “The scratches buff out. They’re really rough on their tables,” Howard says.

The Lerach lunchroom, with a prime corner view, takes another design direction with bold fuchsia and orange—and it’s meant to. “We did it as a very hip bar and bistro,” says Howard. “The managing partner, John Stoia, really wanted to have this bar area where they could have Margaritas at the end of a week ... a casual environment that would be a visual and mental break from their offices.”

The upscale dining room might look like it’s for partners only—but at-home comforts are now an important way employers woo and keep the best employees.

To the five partners at Best Best & Krieger, a public-agency law firm, that meant a user-friendly but very current urban interior. Howard-Sneed took on their new 2,500-square-foot downtown office, and the result looks like a cool East Village loft. The materials have an industrial feel: gray steel panels with a reddish cast, eco-friendly pressed-sunflower boards and poured concrete. The floors are made from recycled telephone poles from India, clear-sealed to show the grain of different woods.

“The cold concrete walls are balanced by the natural warmth of the wood,” says Anne Sneed. “All the materials we used are natural—or not overprocessed.”

The design team constantly seeks out new ideas about how space functions and ways to extend its use. Conference rooms are placed to take advantage of views, and the walls between them often seamlessly disappear, creating one large space. Mobile, lightweight furniture can be configured for seminars, training or client receptions.

“Real estate is so very expensive these days,” Howard says. “These rooms are becoming less the static boardroom.” Small, stylish meeting rooms for a contract signing; “break-out rooms,” where a visiting attorney or client can work; sufficient storage; and service pods with refrigerators and coffeemakers or copier machines are some of the ways Howard-Sneed makes a space comfortable and multifunctional.

“We know we’ve done our work well,” Kachur says, “when we come back and there’s no clutter or overuse.”

For more information:
Contact Janice Howard
Howard-Sneed Architecture and Design
629 J Street, Suite 202
San Diego 92101
619-235-6166 |  howard-sneed.com

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