{"id":264639,"date":"2025-11-03T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T17:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=canvasflow&p=264639"},"modified":"2025-11-04T11:17:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:17:22","slug":"tech-office-by-smithgroup-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/tech-office-by-smithgroup-san-diego\/","title":{"rendered":"A Touch Of Whimsy Reigns In This San Diego Tech Office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Motifs from the relief are repeated on the painted-concrete floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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November 3, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Dan Howarth<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>Eric Laignel\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Touch Of Whimsy Reigns In This San Diego Tech Office<\/h1>\n\n\n

San Diego is synonymous with sandy beaches, year-round great weather, and stellar Mexican food. But for the regional studio of the nationwide multidisciplinary firm SmithGroup<\/a>, its beloved locale offers much more. When developing ideas for the downtown offices of a global tech company, the project team drew on the fabric of the city to create two dual concepts that celebrate its lesser-known assets. The first is based on the surrounding natural landscape; the second, on its grittier urban energy. \u201cIt\u2019s really easy to make the clich\u00e9 references,\u201d says corporate, commercial, and civic studio leader Megan Skaalen, who helmed the project, \u201cbut there\u2019s also the secret side of San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The client loved both concepts equally and requested they be integrated across the workspace, a single 50,000-square-foot floor plate spanning two buildings and connected by an internal bridge. While the obvious approach might have been to assign one idea to each half of the space, SmithGroup took a bolder route. The more vibrant, zanier scheme\u2014dubbed Feel the Pulse\u2014was applied to the central communal zones that link both buildings. Meanwhile, the softer, more contemplative direction\u2014At Home in Nature\u2014was woven into meeting rooms and workspaces deeper within the plan. This strategy not only enhances wayfinding, Skaalen acknowledges, but also establishes a clear visual distinction between areas for connection and those for focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SmithGroup Crafts A Vibrant Office For A Global Tech Company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In the lobby of a global tech company\u2019s 50,000-square-foot San Diego office by SmithGroup, a custom wall relief celebrates the city\u2019s vibrant colors, culture, and history.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The dynamic energy of the urban-influenced scheme hits immediately upon entry. The main elevator core is wrapped in matte-black steel panels, while matching forced-perspective diagonals slice across the ceiling and floor, making the lobby appear \u201clike it\u2019s ripped,\u201d explains senior interior designer Alex Leadon. An adjacent wall is entirely clad in a relief collage of abstract shapes, vivid colors, and outdoorsy motifs\u2014all nods to San Diego. \u201cThe client really puts an emphasis on the local identity of its offices,\u201d Leadon reports, so this arrival moment delivers a bold \u201cSD\u201d signature right from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the space, arches appear again and again\u2014turning a long corridor into an arcade, for instance, or spanning a deep, banquette-lined wall booth in the coffee-bar area\u2014gestures that reference the Spanish Revival architecture found across the city, particularly the museums, pavilions, and historic structures populating nearby Balboa Park. The color palette in the common zones similarly borrows from the surrounding context of ocean, beach, desert, and mountains. Seafoam green, terra-cotta, and coral are applied strategically \u201cto get the creative juices flowing,\u201d Leadon suggests. Texture is also introduced via materials such as artworks that incorporate sand, natural-wool acoustic panels in the open work areas, and metal mesh layered over glowing light boxes in a pre-function space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colorful Palettes Get The Creative Juices Flowing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Nearby, an Elisa Passino mural backdrops PearsonLloyd\u2019s Kin chairs and Martin Brattrud Studio\u2019s Las Ondas banquette.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Skaalen lists comfort and hominess as the workplace qualities most desired by today\u2019s employees. Those admirable attributes are conjured here through soft furnishings and soothing colors, certainly, but primarily through art. Wherever you look, a wide array of custom artworks created by SPMDesign bursts from surfaces, envelops thresholds, and even drips off canvases onto the walls. They are joined by a curated selection of pieces by local artists, enlivening communal areas and meeting rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the art and other decorative elements, the hat tips to San Diego continue\u2014sometimes overt, sometimes subtle, and occasionally hidden. Around a conference room themed after the SS Monte Carlo\u2014a Prohibition-era gambling vessel now a wreck visible at low tide on the beach at Coronado\u2014five coins are discreetly tucked away for staff and visitors to discover. And for those who look closely enough, a discreet peephole in the lobby-wall relief offers a glimpse of a vintage postcard. \u201cThere\u2019s a sense of play,\u201d Skaalen observes, \u201cbut it doesn\u2019t feel elementary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feel The Pulse Of San Diego In This Workplace Design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Mario Ruiz\u2019s Clique benches and a pair of credenzas on casters line the walls of a breakout area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The open office areas and smaller meeting rooms are quieter in tone, so that users can \u201cfocus where focus is due,\u201d says Leadon. A variety of breakout spaces, private booths, and even reclining massage chairs are included to accommodate different ways of working and the requirements of neurodiverse individuals. \u201cNo matter what personality, learning style, or work employees need to do, there is a place for them to do that,\u201d Leadon explains. \u201cIt\u2019s not a one-size-fits-all.\u201d The multitude of settings in which people can meet, converse, ideate, and relax together is critical\u2014particularly today when, as Skaalen points out, many are motivated to come into the office to socialize: \u201cHuman connection is needed, even within a global technology company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overall impression created by the interiors is of a much more mature version of the \u201cfun house\u201d tech offices that dominated the 2010\u2019s. Welcoming, adaptable spaces with artful touches of whimsy\u2014rather than glorified amusement arcades or playgrounds\u2014signal a new era for an industry that has outgrown its awkward adolescence. \u201cTech companies have grown up, and their spaces have as well,\u201d Skaalen concludes. By creating a condensed, abstracted snapshot of San Diego within these walls, SmithGroup has provided an identity tailored for those who, like them, are proud to live and work in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore Design Details Like Hand-Painted Murals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Motifs from the relief are repeated on the painted-concrete floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Blackened-steel cladding walls, ceiling, and floor around the elevators.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A vintage postcard in a relief peephole.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The coffee-bar area\u2019s Longboard backsplash tile in post-consumer recycled glass composite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Hand-painted murals enliven corridors and circulation spaces.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Arches in a pre-function area\u2014as throughout\u2014are a nod to the city\u2019s Spanish Revival architecture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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One of them, embedded in the wall and screened with metal mesh, acts as a giant light box, in front of which Hallgeir Homstvedt and Runa Klock\u2019s Lily noise-dampening pendant fixtures overhang Rainlight\u2019s Sunny lounge chairs and Simone Bonanni\u2019s Obon ceramic coffee table.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Reclining massage chairs in an office area\u2013adjacent corridor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Softer hues reflecting the region\u2019s natural palette.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The same theme informing a mural inspired by an iconic fig tree in nearby Balboa Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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An arcaded corridor leads to an open office area, where sit-or-stand desks cater to personal preferences.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dubbed Spruce Street, this conference room evokes the pedestrian suspension bridge of the same name, a hidden city landmark tucked in a leafy Bankers Hill canyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
PROJECT TEAM<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

SMITHGROUP:<\/strong> ROB MOYLAN; LESLEY SCOTT; GABRIEL CERVANTES; DAVE WANG; PATRICK MACBRIDE; SHAWN NGUYEN; HAL SPIERS; NEHAL DESAI; ANDREA REYNOLDS; MIKE KATAN; JOSE ALICEA; CHRISTINA MOSS. SPMDESIGN: <\/strong>ART CONSULTANT. CREATIVE METAL INDUSTRIES: <\/strong>METALWORK. WB POWELL: <\/strong>MILLWORK. SKYLINE CONSTRUCTION: <\/strong>GENERAL CONTRACTOR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRODUCT SOURCES<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

FROM FRONT EHMCKE SHEET METAL:<\/strong> STEEL PANELING (LOBBY). LED LINEAR:<\/strong> STRIP LIGHTING. TERRA NOVA DESIGNS<\/strong>: BENCHES. AXIS<\/strong>: PEN\u00adDANT FIXTURES (LOBBY, CONFERENCE ROOM). LIVDEN:<\/strong> WALL TILE (COFFEE BAR). ASTEK:<\/strong> MURAL. MARTIN BRATTRUD:<\/strong> BANQUETTE. FLOS:<\/strong> SCONCES. ALLERMUIR:<\/strong> SIDE CHAIRS (COFFEE BAR, BREAKOUT AREA). HEARTWORK:<\/strong> CREDENZAS (BREAKOUT AREA). STUDIO TK: <\/strong>BENCHES. UNIKA VAEV: <\/strong>PENDANT FIXTURES (PRE-FUNCTION AREA). MOOOI: <\/strong>COFFEE TABLE. WEST ELM WORK:<\/strong> SOFA. ARCADIA:<\/strong> GLASS DOORS. ENCORE SEATING:<\/strong> LOUNGE CHAIRS (PRE-FUNCTION AREA), CHAIRS (CONFERENCE ROOM). INFINITY: <\/strong>MASSAGE CHAIRS (CORRIDOR). STYLEX:<\/strong> PRIVACY SCREENS. STEELCASE: <\/strong>DESKS, TASK CHAIRS (OFFICE AREA).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n