Toronto office by HOK is designed as a post-covid workspace
The new Boston Consulting Group (BCG) office by HOK in Toronto aims to attract employees back to their desks through clever post-covid workspace design
![view across floors and through to cityscape beyond](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DkAXRxhhRZfVsSUCgW2r7g-415-80.jpg)
This Toronto office has been designed with a post-covid workspace in mind. Created for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) by international architecture firm HOK, it is the fast-growing global consulting firm's Canadian headquarters. The 400-person-strong team now has a fresh interior for their day-to-day operations – one that not only conveys the firm's dynamism and ethos, but also cleverly leans into the needs and wants of a workforce that just came out of a pandemic, enhancing health and wellness, productivity and innovation.
‘BCG helped us learn and grow and push our boundaries in terms of transformational workplace design,' says Caitlin Turner, director of interiors for HOK in Canada.
‘This was an opportunity to demonstrate that the office wasn’t dead,' the HOK team continued. To that end, the architects worked to compose an interior that satisfies work needs but also includes an array of amenities that help support employees throughout their working day.
Collaboration and inclusivity were key to create a truly agile workspace. Flexibly designed, the spaces include open offices, case team rooms, convertible private offices, soundproof phone booths, a quiet library, a large café and individual nooks to work in next to the library.
Wellness was also high up on the architects' agenda. Embracing the position that ‘sitting is the new smoking', rooms have been designed to encourage movement. In this context, chance encounters and cross-pollination across departments were also promoted.
And while work settings are multiple and diverse, everywhere is bathed in natural light and supported by specially designed or selected, state-of-the-art office furniture. As a result of the team's efforts on the wellness front, the project has earned a WELL Health-Safety Rating. It is also on track to attain LEED Platinum Core & Shell certification and WELL Platinum Certification.
Equity in the workspace was another core concern, so as a result all rooms are bookable and everyone has the exact same workplace environment and options – and this caters for BCG’s neurodiverse population too, as interiors have been designed with a range of design strategies to ensure comfort for all.
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Even the company's alumni are part of the picture. ‘Purpose-built spaces are set aside for BCG alumni who find themselves visiting Toronto or who are in the neighborhood and want to drop in and work,' the architects explain. ‘When people join BCG, they become part the BCG family – even after they leave.'
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
A dramatic new lakeside cabin in the Canadian wilderness rises above the trees
Kariouk Architects' lakeside cabin ‘m.o.r.e. CLT’ explores new material approaches while making a minimal impact on a precious landscape
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Forest Retreat is a new low-energy family house in the forests of Ontario
Set beneath a vast roof, Forest Retreat is a rich mix of local materials, craftsmanship and space for an extended family to get together in the heart of nature
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Join the West Coast Modern Week's Home Tour 2024 for modernist architecture and more
West Coast Modern Week 2024 comes with its annual home tour courtesy of the West Vancouver Art Museum, offering an extensive, immersive showcase of Canada's modernist architecture
By Hadani Ditmars Published
-
A modernist lakeside cottage in Ontario provides a perfect backdrop for family vacations
A lakeside cottage by Canadian studio Dubbeldam Architecture + Design has been shaped as a modest multigenerational retreat to accommodate the surrounding wilderness
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Visit a cubic Canadian cabin in the woods: welcome to Rustic Grade
Maurice Martel has designed a contemporary cabin in the woods, Rustic Grade, to make the most of a sylvan plot to the north of Montreal
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Whistling Wind is a remote Canadian cottage retreat to reconnect with nature
Whistling Wind house is an elegant escape on a remote Ontario island that offers up a contemporary reinterpretation of the local vernacular
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Whistler cabin offers a ‘transcendent experience’ to its occupants
Openspace Architecture’s Winterfell house is a Whistler cabin and luxurious contemporary ski retreat nestled within the forest
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
A far-flung Nova Scotia retreat is a minimalist prefab exploration
Perched on the shores of Cape Breton Island this Nova Scotia retreat by Nicholas Fudge Architects combines prefabricated construction with traditional forms and minimal design
By Jonathan Bell Published