CAR2GO
Offices and Showroom

Gastown, Vancouver, BC – 2011

Car2Go contacted Thibodeau Architeture + Design in December of 2010 to assist them in the design of their first Canadian office in historic Gastown in Vancouver. The space they were leasing was a former 1,200sf children's toy store. Car2Go was looking to move into their new space by March 2011 and had a very limited budget to upgrade this space. They were looking for a minimalistic, white look, with accents of blue. The design-build project delivery method was chosen to allow us to meet both of these constraints and our partner company, Pan American Construction, joined us on this project.

This design intent was to re-use as much of the space and furniture that remained, while adding minimalistic elements that would blend in with the existing. The Client requested a clear separation between the retail component at the front and the office component at the back.

The office area was to be a flexible, open office space that could be transformed depending on the daily workload or number of people physically working in the office. A series of movable workstations were created. These could be stand alone when placed up against the wall or turned into a large common table for meetings. Walls in the office were painted with whiteboard paint to allow for the staff to express work related or non-work related items. A small Boardroom was also added in the office space to provide a more private space. The sliding doors when opened, providing the openness required for the open office concept, while allowing for more privacy when closed. Walls in that room were also finished with the whiteboard paint.  Sound attenuation was added to this room to improve the acoustics.

The retail area is the public face of Car2Go. Existing millwork and cabinets were re-used and transformed into Client access stations. A reception desk was created from tables that remained from the toy store. To provide a more Vancouver feel to the space, a blue outline of the city's skyline was added.

Car2go was very satisfied with the completed work and has now retained TAD to work on their new offices in other Canadian cities.