Contract - June 2014 - 116

sources

mULTIpLI city

™

office

PhotograPhy: eddy Joaquim, courtesy schwartz and architecture

office

in a space behind one of the
"houses," tucked under
the mezzanine, Pinterest
employees created their
own speakeasy.

Funny or Die

Pinterest
Three firms collaborate on a San Francisco
headquarters-and employees make it their own

Clive Wilkinson helps an online entertainment
company expand without losing its soul

By Lydia Lee
Photography by
Naho Kubota and
Eddy Joaquim

78

Pinterest is a website that enables people to share their love of design:
Everyone can be a tastemaker or style guru of their particular passion.
Given the diversity of visions represented on the website, it is fitting
that Pinterest's own San Francisco headquarters would begin with a
backdrop created by three separate architects from New York, Los
Angeles, and San Francisco-and then be quickly transformed by
employee "hacks," i.e. DIY customizations and modifications. The final
result is a joyous jumble of ideas that matches the site's identity as a
freewheeling place to explore whatever catches one's eye.
Evan Sharp, co-founder of Pinterest, was studying architecture
at Columbia when he began collaborating with two friends to build a
tool for curating photo collections. After this side project took off,
Sharp asked his former studio professor Janette Kim, who also has
her own practice named All of the Above, to design Pinterest's first

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June 2014

contract

Early Hollywood was a scrappy place where fly-by-night studios filmed
on street corners and movies were often a flash in the pan. That more or
less described the viral video internet production company Funny
or Die until success and expansion inspired a recent move into a new,
playfully creative office designed by Clive Wilkinson Architects.
Fittingly, Wilkinson even describes the aesthetic of the
25,000-square-foot space as "scrappy," with many design moves
derived from the company's on-the-fly mentality, in which writers and
producers instantly respond to daily events with web-based shorts
often featuring celebrities in irreverent situations. "Coming into a
building that was innately corporate, we wanted to do something
that would emphasize life being in process, rather than finished,"
Wilkinson says. "The visual interest of the space comes from this
unprocessed look."
Funny or Die occupies two floors with a dedicated entrance in
a glassy new building recently opened on The Lot, a historic studio
in West Hollywood, California. The first-floor lobby establishes the
casual tone, almost like a basement rumpus room for rowdy teenagers,
with walls clad in unfinished pegboard and hung with pictures and gold
antlers, a particleboard desk, unfinished concrete floors and structural

By Russell Fortmeyer
Photography by
Nico Marques/Photekt

The bright yellow walls
partially enclosing the kitchen
contrast the raw look of
exposed steel studs on
the walls surrounding
a conference room.
86

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june 2014

Pinterest (page 78)

True Global Design.

The benefits of mass production
+ the richness of regionally
sourced materials.
Designed by
Yves Behar and fuseproject.
Find us at landscapeforms.com or
contact us toll free at 800.290.6239.

Funny or Die (page 86)

who Executive architect:
Schwartz and Architecture.
Project designers: All of the
Above; First Office. Executive
architect team: Neal Schwartz,
AIA, principal; Lourdes Garcia,
project manager; Neil O'Shea,
job captain; Wyatt Arnold, project
archtiect; Erik Bloom, associate;
Joshua Yoches, senior designer.
Project design team: Janette
Kim; Anna Neimark; Andrew
Atwood; Charlie Able; Benjamin
Farnsworth; Rachel Hillery;
Mark Acciari; Austin Kaa; Steven
Moody; Ewan Feng; Kate Hajash;
Brian Lee; Darle Shinsato; Jane
Zhu; Fiona Booth; Katie Okamoto;
Margaret Zyro. Pinterest design
team: Everett Katigbak, brand
manager; Jen Nguyen, head
of workplace; Per Johanson,
head of facilities and real estate.
Project manager: Gina Caruso;
Relocations Connections, Inc.
Furniture designer: One
Workplace. Contractor:
NOVO Construction.
Lighting: PritchardPeck.
Structural engineer: Yu
Structural Engineers.
what Drywall: USG. Resilient
flooring: Armstrong. Carpet:
Interface. Lighting: Philips
Omega; Con-Tech Lighting;
Pinnacle; Lithonia; Prudential;
Spectrum Lighting; Finelight;
Linear Lighting; H.E. Williams;
Emergi-lite; Artemide; Estiluz;
Delray; custom by Pinterest.
Hardware: Ives; Schlage;
Hager; DCI; Glynn Johnson;
Ingersoll-Rand. Door: VT
Industries; United States
Aluminum; Western Integrated
Materials; Crown Industries.
Workstations: One Workspace.
Custom woodwork: Commercial
Casework, Inc. Plumbing: Kohler;
Sloan; Elkay.

contract

who Architect and designer:
Clive Wilkinson Architects.
Project team: Clive Wilkinson,
FAIA; Meghan Kelly; Amelia
Wong; Brad Carpenter, AIA.
Contractor: Pinnacle Contracting
Corporation. Lighting: Horton
Lees Grogden Lighting.
MEP Engineering: JTmec.
Structural Engineering: Risha
Engineering. Acoustician:
Newson Brown Acoustics.
what Paint: Sherwin-Williams.
Laminate: Nevamar. Carpet:
Interface. Lighting: Prudential
Ltg.; Pinnacle Architectural
Lighting; Cecilie Manz; Vode
Lighting; Delray Lighting;
RibbonLyte. Window treatments:
MechoShade. Hardware: Schlage.
Door: Wilson Partitions. Seating:
Wit Seating; Vitra; Herman Miller;
Blu Dot; BoConcept; Bend Goods;
BuzziSpace; Design Within
Reach. Upholstery: Herman
Miller. Tables: Herman Miller;
Watson Furniture; Muuto; Blu
Dot. Files: Herman Miller. Custom
woodworking: AMCabinets
Architectural Millwork; Gardena.
Plumbing: Moen.

DESIGN. CULTURE. CRAFT.
select No. 127 at contractDesign.com/readerservice

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