Working Without Walls: Reflecting on the Instrument Office Build-Out

Last Thursday, people from a diverse cross-section of the creative sector converged on digital media agency Instrument’s HQ for the after-hours AIA event, “Working Without Walls: Creating an Office for a Community of Collaborators.” It was a packed house with around 100 architects, photographers, graphic designers, strategists, and creative agency professionals gathered for a panel discussion on how an office tenant improvement can communicate and nurture company culture, identity, and workflow.

With Instrument fully at home in their new office, the time was right for gathering the project team together—designers, client, and builder—to reflect on the road to project completion. Architecture critic and UO John Yeon Center director Randy Gragg served as moderator with panelists Kevin Valk and Lee Jorgensen of Holst Architecture, Andee Hess of Osmose Design, JD Hooge of Instrument, and Hammer & Hand’s Daniel Thomas and Daryll Fry.

Randy led our intrepid panelists through a lively chat about Instrument’s aspirations for the project and the nature of creative collaboration, both in context of Instrument’s working style and the greater project delivery model for their office build-out. The panel explored how collaboration is not about always agreeing, but listening to—and sometimes challenging—the perspectives of different disciplines to reach a fully-honed, polished project. Panelists spoke candidly about lessons learned and shared more than a few laughs while revisiting some of these points of creative fission!

The session concluded with a round of Q&A from the audience before the panel disbanded and went their merry ways. It was great to see the project come full circle with this discussion and we’re so pleased to see Instrument happy in their new hive!

Instrument Office TI | Hammer & Hand

Photo by Zack Semke | Hammer & Hand

Instrument Panel

Photo by Xylia Buros | Holst Architecture

Instrument Office | Hammer & Hand

Photo by Zack Semke | Hammer & Hand

Visit our commercial page for more about our office TI services.

Back to Field Notes