Meister Environmental Law Office

Designed as the United States headquarters for Meister Consulting Group, a leading clean energy law consultancy firm, the project challenges normative material culture of the workplace and redefines the spatial organization of the law office typology. A retooling of the project’s material palette, infrastructure and furniture offers a fresh alternative to conventional carbon-intensive construction industry practices that is immediately practicable, impactful and scalable. The design creates an elastic floor plan that eliminates the cubical, maximizes shared public space and compresses the typical private corporate office into a zone of mini-conference rooms that provide acoustic privacy for confidential calls. A feature wall of custom-designed CNC-milled plywood panels improve acoustics, sequester carbon and reveal the subtle color patterns of the material’s laminations. At the client’s request, a sustainable new line of “pop-up” modular office furniture was developed to support Meister’s flexible and collaborative office practices.

Client: Meister Consulting Group
Location: Boston, MA
Size: 2,500 SF (Office Renovation)
Status: Completed 2015
Honors & Awards: 2017 Boston Society of Architects Small Firms Design Award
Publications: DesignBoom

Mr. Shelly was Lead Designer and Project Manager on the project while employed at Kennedy & Violich Architecture.

The floor plan is designed to maximize efficiency, flexibility and access to daylight.

The Birch plywood feature wall provides warmth and texture to the space. A CNC router was used to excavate grooves to varying depths to exposed the plywood’s laminations and create a topographic landscape-like effect.

A line of sustainable furniture was created to outfit the office. The furniture is composed CNC-milled plywood and ratchet straps, allowing for easy assembly and disassembly.