A Strong Client Partnership Makes for Design Success

As a firm, we value the client relationships we have made the last 30 years. We form a partnership with our clients to learn who they are. We let each individual company’s vision for their future guide our design. Our greatest successes are projects where our clients feel we created space that plans for current needs and anticipates changes and growth. When we are fortunate to partner with a previous client for their next project, we love learning about who they have become and who they want to be going forward. Repeat clients offer an opportunity for us to grow alongside them; they give us a chance to revisit our designs and improve upon them. Keep reading to see some of the journeys we have been on with our clients.

Oliver Wyman 

Visnick & Caulfield’s relationship with Oliver Wyman began like many others. Our designers worked collaboratively with their internal teams to execute their office vision. As the company grew and changed over the years they departed from their traditional layout to an office of the future. Visnick & Caulfield partnered with the client team to develop a workplace strategy that transitioned the company to an open office space with hoteling, fewer permanent offices, and a wide variety of collaborative work areas. This dramatic shift in their office dynamic was aided by the strong relationship between the client and design teams. Design alone is not enough to change a workplace; through strategy and training Visnick & Caulfield helped employees adapt to this phase in Oliver Wyman’s journey and prepare them for the next one.

Pega

Our relationship with Pegasystems formed in 2011 while designing their HQ in Cambridge. The company anticipated large-scale growth therefore phased the design of their headquarters. Through the years Pega, alongside Visnick & Caulfield, redefined strategies, reconfigured space and expanded to additional floors. Our on-going partnership allowed us to adapt our design to Pega’s changing needs. This experience primed us to turn the Salem, New Hampshire satellite office into an emblem of the company’s next evolutionary phase. This next phase of Pega’s is moving beyond the confines of New England as we work with their team on strategy initiatives.

Atlas Venture

Atlas Venture, a venture capital fund focused on bio-tech companies, first partnered with Visnick & Caulfield in 2009. Their first space, a brick-and-beam building in Cambridge, looks a world apart from the contemporary and gleaming space designed in 2015. While their aesthetic changed, a mainstay in each of their spaces is their custom-designed signage of their company logo and name. Now, as we redesign their space for a third time, we are incorporating aspects of the previous two projects: natural light, edgy, contemporary, industrial and high contrast. Each space shows the growth of Atlas Venture as a company and our design partnership along with it.

Charlesbank Capital Partners

Visnick & Caulfield first partnered with Charlesbank, the private equity firm, in 2006 to design their offices at 200 Clarendon. Our principals worked with the founding partners, to create their vision for their company image. As a client, Charlesbank, appreciates feedback and to be pushed beyond their comfort zone. This dynamic gave our designers the opportunity to introduce flexibility and collaboration spaces within the “traditional” office concept. Fortunately, over the years the two teams remain nearly intact, providing a strong foundation of trust when embarking on Charlesbank’s office expansion in 2019. The collaborative office dynamics introduced in 2007 were such a success with staff it led Charlesbank to want more spaces like these for their expansion.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt contracted Visnick & Caulfield on the first of 10 renovation projects completed between 2008 and 2014. These projects ranged from minor renovations to major restacks. During those six years our teams collaborated and solidified our relationship. Due to this partnership, Visnick & Caulfield was trusted to design HMH’s new home after 20 years in their existing space. Our knowledge of HMH enabled us to design a new visual identity for the company’s workplace. As client team members transitioned and the company grew the design and client teams continued to work together on projects in Orlando, Florida and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We love being a part of their story and are excited for each opportunity to continue to tell theirs.

 

Article By – Julia Pelkofsky, Admin/Marketing Coordinator
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