Francis Cauffman Architects has designed the teamwork-oriented offices for accounting firm EisnerAmper, located in San Francisco, California.

EisnerAmper, a national accounting and business advisory firm, previously occupied 19,000 square feet in San Francisco’s Financial District. While their organizational structure facilitated their work, it did not promote teamwork. The traditional office layout isolated staff behind high-walled cubicles, leaving few opportunities for collaboration. When it came time for the accounting firm to relocate its headquarters, they spent time asking cultural questions regarding how they work and what their employees wanted from an office environment. EisnerAmper was initially searching for 16,000 square feet of office space but, with more introspection on their needs and new ways of working, they landed on a 12,000-square-foot office space with more shared, curated work settings and open areas for staff that was intuitively more collaborative. Located at One California Street, the new office checks all of the boxes — it’s in the same neighborhood as the company’s original HQ and provides the same great views of the Bay Bridge.

EisnerAmper commissioned FCA to develop a strategy that would breakdown perceived hierarchical barriers within the company, opening up the space for teaming and creating the opportunity for employees across all levels to engage in daily collaboration. For this group of highly skilled accounting professionals, it was important that the design implemented would attract and retain a younger demographic through a vibrant and open space that offers choice for work settings. The design team guided the firm through an early visioning process where they imagined their ideal office. It was defined as busy, spacious, comfortable, professional, and a place for inspiration: a reflection of not only the firm’s culture, but of the San Francisco marketplace.

The space took on a blended residential, hospitality, and corporate aesthetic to achieve this vision. The new office features an open plan, a variety of meeting and conference rooms, and a town hall area that is reconfigurable to serve a variety of functions. The town hall center was designed to act a space for events, training sessions, and as an everyday hub for employees. It houses the company’s complement of food, snacks and beverages for staff while accommodating space for catered dinners, cocktail hours, as well as group fitness and wellness activities and other company-planned events. The look of the center features a combination of grey and dark black wood found throughout and is complemented by a color palette of gold and teal to tie back to EisnerAmper’s brand colors.

Wanting all employees to have access to natural daylight and the surrounding views of the San Francisco Bay, FCA was intentional in their planning of the perimeter spaces along the window line, with the exception of visitor and group meeting rooms and the town hall. This new office is about choice, versatility and interaction — staffers can use workstations with sit-to-stand desks that promote wellness for those employees who are constantly at their computers. The partners of the firm moved from traditional offices to the open workstations where they are co-located with their teams, a decision promoted by the EisnerAmper leadership committee to help reinforce a culture where the partners are more accessible to the seasoned talent in the firm. The clusters were designed to have a leader at the helm with supporting staff working in an adjacent four-person bench, allowing for an increase in communication and interaction to continue to build a culture of mentorship within the team.

Surrounding the workstations are meeting rooms that serve a variety of postures: soft seating lounges that serve as spaces for pre- and post-meeting functions, standing height focus rooms and small intimate conference spaces — intentionally all equipped to have the same interactive experience with technology they have at their desks. These multi-purpose rooms were designed for impromptu meetings between employees or for when quiet space is needed for heads-down work. Eclectic in their design, each room features varied, residential-inspired wallcoverings, light fixtures, and furniture pieces that provide an intimate and highly curated feel. Additionally, EisnerAmper added to the curated feel of the space by assigning room names to all the enclosed meeting spaces based on nearby neighborhoods and attractions.

The resulting design of the new SF office, suitable for 65+ employees, is a fresh, comfortable, and technology-rich workplace to support EisnerAmper’s future vision and business goals. Built with a robust infrastructure, it can support the mobile and resident workforce at varying occupancy levels. Moving to a new location provided the firm with the opportunity to transform itself and the office, and set a new direction for future EisnerAmper locations.

Designer: Francis Cauffman Architects

Photography: David Wakely

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