As a leader in helping companies elevate workplace performance, Archbright knows the value of good teamwork. The company serves employers in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon with everything from human resources and employment law compliance to compensation consulting and employee training.
When Archbright consolidated its three offices into one 22,000-square-foot Seattle location to help build a unified culture, their tenant improvements for the new building included furniture and workplace technology from OpenSquare and Connectrac.
Archbright initially considered core drilling to get power and data where it needed to be but JPC Architects and OpenSquare, a workspace services and furniture consultant, suggested Connectrac as a better alternative. “In our market, floor coring is a very expensive option that Archbright wanted to avoid,” says Michael Combs, Workplace Technology Consultant for OpenSquare.
Archbright’s office space is designed for employees to work anyplace they choose and to choose the best space for the work they’re doing. That could have meant multiple floor-cores for access to plug in resources, depending on if employees are sitting at their desks or working in small collaborative areas.
“In addition, Archbright needed to be able to have clients, who come to their offices to train, to be able to connect easily,” Combs explained. “Connectrac allowed them to achieve this without having to pull cords across floors or require multiple expensive and inflexible floor cores.”
Archbright’s open floor plan includes workstations, meeting rooms, training rooms, and a large co-working lounge.
The space has to function exceptionally well to serve employees, facilitate trainings, and host member meetings.
Archbright chose Steelcase media:scape, a synthesis of technology and furniture, which allows people to share content instantly and engage with each other as well as with digital platforms. Because media:scape fosters enhanced collaboration, it is a tremendous benefit to Archbright’s employees and their clients during onsite classes and web-based trainings.
Connectrac was an ideal pairing with media:scape. Connectrac In-Carpet Wireways ran from the wall to the middle of the floor bringing power, Cat6 for fast Ethernet, and HDMI connections to all media:scape workstations.
OpenSquare Workplace Consultant Hal Breier says it’s precisely these capabilities that set Connectrac apart in the marketplace. “The clear difference with Connectrac is the ease to which power AND data can be delivered to areas that go beyond the traditional cubicle,” states Breier.
As for Archbright? Settled into their new consolidated Georgetown neighborhood office, the company is enjoying the collaborative space they desired without the lost productivity and expense involved in core drilling.
“Connectrac was not only a cost-effective solution, it also gave use an added advantage in its speed and ease of installation,” Colin Lyons, Director of IT and Business Intelligence at Archbright. “The system is working well. It looks great – it’s very clean and aesthetically pleasing.”
Breier sees Connectrac as a solution for the demands of the contemporary workplace. “Office design today is about choice and control over where and how people work,” Breier notes. “Having the ability to bring power and data to more casual spaces, or spread throughout a training space is really important to our clients.” To learn more visit connectrac.com/products.
