HOK designed the newly opened 17,000-sq.-ft. office space for San Francisco-based Square, Inc., in the @4240 building in the Cortex Innovation Community in midtown St. Louis. Square, the mobile payments company founded by native St. Louisans Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, selected HOK to design the conversion of the historic building’s old wire shed into a state-of-the-art workplace.
Developer Wexford Science & Technology, LLC, previously teamed with HOK to renovate @4240, a LEED Platinum-certified office and laboratory building that once housed a 1940s phone factory.
HOK designed Square’s new office space to attract, engage and optimize its appeal to a variety of employees while creating a dynamic, highly functional workplace environment. Highlights include:
• Orienting the design to take advantage of the 16-foot ceiling and large windows along the building’s east and south facades, as well as several centrally located skylights, to flood the interior with natural light.• Activity spaces where Square’s workforce can recharge, focus and socialize. These include small nooks and private spaces for meetings and phone conversations. A community space adjacent to a micro kitchen accommodates various company functions.• Furniture selected to accommodate changes in posture, including adjustable height desks.• Acoustic panels hanging from the ceiling.• Custom-designed tables for community space made locally by COLLAB, LLC.
Other St. Louis-based project team members include Artisan Building Co., general contractor; Kaemmerlen Electric, electric; Mechanical Solutions, mechanical; Fire Solutions, fire protection; T.J. Wies Contracting, Inc., drywall and ceiling; Flooring Systems, Inc., flooring; Kent Plumbing, Inc., plumbing; and Missouri Valley Glass Co., Inc., glazing.
