plANNED PARENTHOOD CALL CENTER

A resourceful and thoughtful redesign of a Planned Parenthood Call Clinic. 

Our design for this call center, the central hub for appointment taking for all ten PPGG clinics, resolves competing workplace tensions: confidentiality without seclusion; privacy without isolation; and communication without distraction.

The four-thousand-square-foot remodeled space, which includes private offices, shared workstations, a copy area, and a conference room, is organized using transparent forms to reflect and support the staff's collaborative working style and transparent office culture.

The light-filled design creates a non-institutional yet economical environment — a potent antidote to office monotony.

Throughout, innovative partitioning offers call center employees privacy while permitting natural light to infuse their spaces through a series of transparent and translucent glass panels.

This transparent/translucent layer serves as a metaphor for the staff's interactivity in a setting where closed doors have never been the norm.

For this acoustically sensitive environment, we deadened the noise-but not the energy-by layering sound-absorbent insulation between natural materials such as wood and cork.

This approach animates surfaces with lively visual and tactile qualities. Carpeting and acoustically absorbent ceilings further control noise, countering the effects of the glass panels.

The specially crafted workstations are clad in perforated wood partitions, colored glass, and acoustical batting. Made of standardized steel parts, they were assembled simply, to maximize lightness and efficiency.

Overhead canopies of steel and glass increase visual interest, disrupting the plane of the T-bar ceiling. The overall vibrancy of the call center conveys pride of place and pride of work in a nonprofit devoted to the holistic well-being of both its staff and clients.

Awards

2003 Interior Design Award