DELV Design Offices – Indianapolis
DELV Design created a collaborative and sustainable studio space in Indianapolis with thoughtful design elements including natural light, air quality monitoring, and sustainable materials.
DELV Design created a place for their team to collaborate and work creatively in Indianapolis, Indiana.
DELV’s studio had grown significantly in recent years, both in number of employees and in profile of work. Beyond accommodating for our current and future growth, we needed a space that would enable our highly collaborative and non-hierarchical structure to continue to thrive. The opportunity to design a new studio for ourselves in a post-pandemic reality was both a heady and intriguing challenge. Robust charettes, surveys, and rounds of divergence and convergence resulted in a space that accomplishes our design goals, and acts as a powerful tool for fostering ongoing work outputs. In all layers of planning and detailing the studio, we were able to express our design tenets, believing that good design is: empathetic, honest, beautiful, useful, and resilient.
Steps away from cultural amenities and local food options, this location selection also affords many the ability to ride their bicycles, scooters, or walk to the studio. Drawing individuals into the space as they step off the elevator is a singular, but multipurpose wall that spans across the entire studio. Composed of simple, sustainable materials it serves as a beautiful visual anchor and contains a myriad of functional elements: a coat closet, pin-up space, a tv monitor, hospitality bar, kitchen appliances, and additional storage. Democratic and equitable access to daylight and views was a strong value early on, so each individual workspace was co-located adjacent to the best daylight in the studio.
Aiming for excellent air quality, the design uses no Red List items in the construction. An oversized custom steel planter wall adds a critical biophilic anchor along with natural carbon dioxide scrubbing, and electronic monitors keep tabs on air quality. Focus booths next to the open-environment studio, 100% sit-to-stand workstations, and intentionally varied work location vignettes allow options for differing modes and postures ranging from lounging on a sofa to standing at a high-top table. A tucked-away wellness room provides support for nursing mothers as well as other individuals who may need a moment of personal privacy or a mental reset.
As a firm who proudly became carbon neutral in the months after moving into the new studio, a desire and passion for promoting sustainable design is at our core. The overarching vision for this new studio was to create a beautiful and functional space that would be a testing lab to use affordable, authentic, and sustainable materials paired with high-design detailing and compositions. Underscoring location selection, restraint in scale, water usage, recycling, wise selection of materials considering embodied carbon, and useful life expectancies, we sought to craft a space to support each human and our planet at large.
From the thoughtful layout of the studio, to the directional naming conventions of the meeting rooms, to the 1576 meticulously-placed ash wood pieces–every detail was considered in the overall design.
Design: DELV Design
Furniture Dealer: RJE Furniture
Contractor: STENZ
Photography: Adam Reynolds, The Addison Group
