Firm： Blitz

Type： Commercial › Office

YEAR： 2012

SIZE： 10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft

Located in the heart of downtown San Francisco, MuleSoft’s new 12,000 SF office combines sophisticated, existing industrial shell architecture with a modern, yet warm interiors insertion. Needing an innovative and cool space for its rapidly expanding team, MuleSoft partnered with Design Blitz architects to create a comfortable and brand-forward new office. The architects organized workstations along windows with abundant natural light and added phone booths, meeting rooms, and casual break out areas to maximize the functionality of the interior. Informed by a rustic-meets-modern motif, the result is a refined and stylish office, with small touches of humor that reflect the culture of the mature, fun-loving company.

The urban context of MuleSoft’s new office provides a rich and vibrant background to the homey and comfortable interior environment. The architects designed residentially-influenced break out spaces to provide inspiring alternative working areas to the creative staff. The use of wood finishes and fixtures throughout further adds a layer of warmth to the space. To balance the rustic vibe with a modern feel, Blitz carefully inserted energetic color in the project at key moments to create fun elements while maintaining a consistent level of sophistication. Blitz placed bright blue partitions in the space to highlight areas of collaborative convergence, incorporating the company’s signature blue color. Simple white boards, metrics monitors and presentation capabilities were also added throughout, instantly updating the open space into a useful and current office for the MuleSoft team.

As the project was limited by a tight timeline and an equally tight budget, off-the-shelf solutions proved to be out of reach at times. As a result, the architects invented creative and custom alternatives. The blue interior light fixture, for example, was a custom-painted dome from a submarine that ended up costing thirty percent less than the originally-specified fixture.

The MuleSoft team is a fun bunch, with a work hard/play hard mentality that the new space needed to reflect. Design Blitz created a “MuleBar” with a custom-designed neon sign, chalkboard paint walls, and table games that provide a laid-back environment for the team to relax in after a long week of changing the world. The architects also played off the company’s mascot, using a mule motif to add playful details such as blue/pink mule heads for rest room IDs and a reclaimed stable door for the store room.