Our New Office
Once upon a time, Upperquad was located in a quaint little spot in the Lower Haight. We lived just down the street from Souvla and around the block from Black Sands, on the bustling corner of Page and Divisadero. Over the 7 years that followed, we worked on some of our most memorable projects, built out our portfolio, and grew from a team of three to nearly twenty.
And so it was a bittersweet moment when growing became out-growing and the time came to start looking for other spaces. We loved being in the Haight. The neighborhood feels, the food, the people… our first home was good to us. But alas, with growth comes change and now we have a new home that we’ve made our own. Here’s a look at our journey to get there.
Finding the right spot
We were all longing to stay in the cozy, residential neighborhood we were used to, but it turned out the zoning laws changed during the 7 years we were there. After hours of searching Craigslist, morale was, as you might expect, pretty low:
But not for long! We had experts on our side. Reuben from Custom Spaces listened to our every need and desire to help us narrow the search. They showed us more than a dozen promising locations before we landed on our new home — the spacious top floor of a beautiful building in the heart of Union Square.
I always dreamed of working in a downtown office. It’s situated on the top floor and away from the hustle and bustle. You are greeted with inspiring city views, interior landscaping, even natural light and a perfectly curated Sonos playlist.
— Evan Corrigan, Art Director
Morale was on the rise:
Especially as we started to talk details:
And just like that the contract was signed! We were stoked to secure the new space and we were ready to make it ours.
A Blank Slate
We established a “new office committee team” to take on all things new office — a special thanks to Phil, Andy, Le, Wyatt, Bryan for all the hard work they put into the space. We brought on Patrick from Principal Builders who worked closely with the team to make our dreams a reality.
Just like that, the shelves came down and the carpet came out. New floors went in. And a fresh coat of paint gave it that new office feel 😍.
What to do with (A LOT) more space
Our old office was pretty cozy. We all sat together in one long row — family style. It was a combination of three different addresses that came to around 3,200 square feet total. Our new space is roughly 4,200 square feet and the open floor plan makes it feel massive!
Remember when you were little and you’d spend your time blue-printing your dream house? I wasn’t the only one who did that, right? Well, this stage was like that but a whole lot better.
We made a whole lot of not-to-scale plans to wrap our heads around all the new space we would have.
And spent a lot of time on Pinterest:
Making it ours
We officially moved on July 7, 2017 and that’s when the real fun began. With all of those floor plans ready to be realized, it was time to get down to details.
Furniture
Andy, Technical Director at UQ, was great at handling all things new-office. Everything from communicating our needs to various parties, ordering rad furniture, talking to electricians and plumbers, etc. He is essentially the official Office Guru. Here’s his take on furniture:
In moving into a bigger space, we knew we needed to work on our furniture game. Our old space had some nice mid-century pieces and boxy bookshelf we used to divide the space. The main asks for the new place were a new conference room setup, a new lounge space and some more formal pieces throughout. As we’ve grown up as a company, the quality of our work, attention to detail and polish have likewise grown. And we wanted a space that felt like it followed that ethos; considered and polished yet comfortable.
For the conference room, we turned to an SF-based woodworking shop called OHIO designs. They build really nice, modern, honest furniture, with hardwoods that are sustainably harvested and integrated responsibly. We worked with them on a new conference table, along with benches for when we fill out the conference room in all-team meetings. They also helped us with a few credenza’s to tuck away the electronics and cabling.
One goal for our new space was to provide flexibility in the different ways to work. We all have a standard desk and office chair, but we also wanted couches and lounge chairs for a more comfortable change of pace along with communal tables for when a larger work space is needed. The spaces also double as meeting areas and impromptu conference rooms. For the comfortable, yet design-forward setup, we sought the advice of The Residents, a design shop now located in the Haight here in SF. They helped us settle on a couple pieces from HAY, the danish design firm.
Thank you, Andy.
Lighting
One of the things that immediately drew us to the space was the big, beautiful windows that line the perimeter of the building and flood the office in natural light.
The best thing about the new space is the natural light, followed by, in a close second, the natural light. Also, the space gets great natural light.
— Phil Ruppanner, Founder / Managing Director
Because the windows do most of the lighting work for us, we decided to keep things pretty simple from there. We left most of the original fixtures for overhead lighting and brought in a few statement pieces to add some extra flair.
A sleek Edison chandelier from West Elm hangs in our main conference room. We repurposed suspension lights from our old office to the main seating area, aka Comfort Club. The lights intersect and are hung at different heights for a modern touch. We added a couple new hanging lights in the kitchen and in the waiting area for just the right balance of old and new.
Seriously, we love our windows:
I love the airiness of our space. We have these big, beautiful windows that give us amazing light in the studio. It adds so much warmth to the space and just feels like a place I want to design in all day.
— Jessica Strelioff, Creative Director
The Kitchen
The space had started with a small kitchenette, but it was largely closed off from the rest of the studio. We wanted it to feel as bright and beautiful as the rest of the office, so we brought in some exposed top shelves (built by the lovely Studio Mrazik), updated the light fixtures, and added a modern, hexagonal tile backsplash.
Photography Studio
There’s a nice little enclave carved out of the desk space that we’ve been calling “The Photo Nook” for some time now. While we had big dreams for the space from the start, it was largely under-utilized until Evan, Art Director at UQ, joined our team and made it legit!
My favorite part of our new space is that it’s spacious, it’s fits so many desks in there and we were able to bring so many amazing new folks to our team.
Oh and have you heard about our new photo set-up? It’s awesome!
— Zhihao Wu, Developer
We’ve been able to capture some sweet shots:
Custom cabinetry and shelves flank the opposing sides where we house testing devices and anything we need to cut, paste or mock up. Large rolls of colored paper hang in the center for all our photo production needs.
The Entrance
The elevator to our floor opens to a small foyer, which used to be a giant, white wall. We know first impressions matter and we wanted our clients and visitors to feel energized upon entering our office — a place where creativity and imagination are welcomed. Bryan, one of our senior designers, saw the opportunity of turning this mega blank canvas into a super fun mural to greet our guests and we were all amazed by the result.
One of my favorite things is the colorful mural you see upon exiting the elevator into our office. Something bright and happy to greet you after a suspenseful elevator ride.
— Le Wei, Technical Director
A note from Bryan —
Inspiration for our entry mural came from a weekend trip I took to Sea Ranch in Northern California. It is a little slice of heaven built into the mountains on highway 1, bordering the California coastline. In this small community, you’ll find murals, less commonly known as “super graphics”, throughout the recreational center’s bathrooms and locker rooms. These super graphics were created by the very talented Barbara Stauffacher Solomon who is celebrated for her use of bold shapes and striking colors. Upon seeing them, I knew I wanted to do something similar for our new office, and what better place than the first wall you see when you enter our space.
The final result of the mural is a mixture of blown up shapes and patterns hand painted by the wonderful folks at New Bohemia Signs out of San Francisco.
Plants 🌵🌿🌵
A space just isn’t complete without plants, so we turned to green-thumb experts at Flora Grubb in San Francisco. They identified types of plants that would be happiest nestled up against our windows and helped make our office feel like a jungle home.
One of my favorite office is the amount of greenery. Makes the environment seem a little gentle and refreshing to the eye. I also like the idea of taking care of them even if I’m not the best at taking care of plants, but it definitely helps the space feel less industrial.
— Elliott Tran, Senior Designer
Our space has a ton of plants lined up all around the windows, and it sometimes gives me the illusion that I’m outside rather than in an office space. I love how they help blur the boundaries between work and play.
— Cecilia Uhr, Designer
We now have over 100 green friends throughout our office including about 85 snake plants along the perimeter of the main space.
Finishing Touches
Lucky for all of us, Phil, UQ’s founder and fearless leader, is obsessed with design books. Our color-filled shelves instantly brought a homey feel and allowed us to showcase some of our favorite office trinkets.
I love how open our studio is. Everyone sits together on the same floor, which makes it a super comfortable and collaborative space. When I want to run an idea by a designer or ask a developer a question, I can just roll my chair over and chat face to face.
— Danielle LaRoy, Strategist
Celebrating our first year
It took about a year to finesse the details and finish the big projects. We kicked off an official Open House during Design Week in June, 2018 to share our new space with our amazing friends and clients. Thanks to those who came, and if you missed it, be sure to check out our Design Week post.
Until next time ✌️
Upperquad is a growing team of designers, developers and producers brought together by good fortune, great clients and a shared drive to make amazing things.
Kailie Parrish is an Art Director at Upperquad who enjoys making things, travel and puppies.
Photos: Evan Corrigan, Kailie Parrish, Cecilia Uhr unless otherwise noted.
