A profile on the Rock Ventures LLC + Rock Ventures Family of Companies Headquarters - winner of the Architectural Woodwork Institute's Award of Excellence - was featured on the cover of the Winter 2023 issue of Design Solutions. Located in the heart of downtown Detroit, the 50,000 SF office was designed to unite a collection of teams supporting a diverse portfolio of companies.
Ghafari served as architect of record on the project, working in partnership with interior design firm Pophouse. Architectural woodwork for the project was fabricated by MOD Interiors.
The showpiece of the space is a monumental spiral staircase in the atrium that not only connects the lower and upper levels of the office but also creates serendipitous opportunities for employees who don’t normally work together to come into contact, fostering a sense of being part of a larger enterprise. The office accommodates a variety of open and closed workspaces, breakout areas, a boardroom, and an auditorium.
“Curves and wood were used as the two main styling cues,” says Andrew Cottrell, AIA, LEED AP, Ghafari’s director of design. “The curves allowed the space to flow from one space to the next and from floor to floor through the central hub space centered around the featured curved stair.
“Working closely with the woodworker each condition was a design exercise, from the ten-foot-tall, curved barn doors that opened into concealed pockets to the double curved ceiling in the theater to the radiated wood floor of the feature stair, to name a few.”
Read the full Design Solutions cover story here.
