Lindsay-Ferrari Mezzanine & Tenant Improvement
DPR Construction Inc.
Bringing New Ideas to Life with Lindsay Ferrari's Interactive Showroom
"Life Matters, Work Matters, Space Matters and You Matter." Lindsay-Ferrari is living their corporate philosophy with this interactive new space.
Founded in 1925, Lindsay-Ferrari began as a neighborhood bookstore in downtown San Jose, CA known as Curtis Lindsay, Inc. The bookstore grew to include stationery and office supplies, and now provides an array of product and service solutions for the workplace.
In building their $3.8-million, two-story 60,430-sq-ft-flagship showroom, they wanted to create a space that embraced their future yet remembered their past. The new space is located within Lindsay-Ferrari's existing product warehouse. The design breaks all traditional rules of what a "showroom" should be. It is a "living" showroom/studio/workspace where the customer can directly interact with the designers and product and witness how the product lines support the work process. Along the demising wall of the two spaces are offices, conference rooms, training rooms, and working/learning labs. These areas have been designed to accommodate client requests for mockups, special setups, and in-progress project work. They are accessible from the warehouse, allowing forklift access of products into the workspace as needed.
To achieve this unique space, the design combined the product line (Pathways) that Lindsay-Ferrari currently represents with the industrial look of exposed concrete and metal decking, structural steel beams and columns, and corrugated fiberglass panel walls. Details throughout include custom millwork, a second floor mezzanine with custom glass handrails, poured-in-place concrete floors with imbedded tools and metal objects, galvanized metal countertops and cold-rolled mill finished steel with a tinted sealer.
DPR used its own workforce to complete intricate drywall soffits, ceilings, radius walls, and the two-story corrugated fiberglass conference center in the middle of the space.
Lindsay-Ferrari relied on DPR to provide the extensive preconstruction services and value engineering needed to get as much design and uniqueness out of the budget as possible. At Lindsay-Ferrari's request, DPR found a way to reduce the construction schedule to allow move-in to occur three weeks earlier than originally planned. For Jim Budzinski, Lindsay-Ferrari's project manager, the collaboration with the architect (Gensler), DPR, and key subcontractors made it the most successful project he had been associated with. "I had such confidence in the process that I knew the outcome would be incredible," said Budzinski. "I have told every client visiting our space that DPR was involved in its planning, design, and construction, and wouldn't even think of using anyone else."
The space plan is open and flexible to allow for continuous change. Upon entry into the space the client is met by a two-story glass and painted drywall atrium, which incorporates graphic lighting with the built environment. Flashed upon the walls and floor are the Lindsay-Ferrari logo and mottos such as "Life Matters, Work Matters, Space Matters and You Matter," which reinforces the company's culture and image.
