OSAH- Georgia State Office of Administrative Hearings was a project that had all the opportunities for a true challenge. While they had been at 230 Peachtree for years, they were forced to look for a new home because the building was converting to a hotel and restaurant. As always with a state project, cost is a major concern. Add a short time frame to make the move and the desire to have a facility that is on par with the legal community and the project gets very challenging. With the desire to stay close to their current location they ended up across the street in the South Tower in Peachtree Center. So faced with a floor plate that was not conducive to their courtroom needs, we went to work.
Facilitec worked with the State Properties Commission and Kirk Diamond’s team with Cushman & Wakefield to address costs and move OSAH in on time. Tackling the space plan and building a design involved looking back to the current location to negotiate taking existing architectural components to save money and time in the move. Using items such as doors with silencers, pew seating in the courtrooms, the existing reception desk and other items helped control costs.
Spaces that were especially important to them were the public seating areas, the employee meeting center and productive office areas. Facilitec addressed these spaces by over lighting the employee center to give a daylight effect because windows had to be spared in this area to insure that all the employees’ offices had access to daylight. Light finishes along with fun collaborative furniture was used to achieve a space that is inviting for people go to for coffee and more. It has also become an impromptu meeting area. The floor included an outdoor balcony that is used by the employees overlooking the Peachtree Center courtyard.
Because they had to be out of their current building in a very short amount of time, Humphries & Co. worked afterhours, weekends and literally walked reused construction items across the street to meet the time frame and budget. With all the challenges that the project had built into it, and others that came up during the project, everyone came together to meet the project head on. Without OSAH, C&W, Facilitec and Humphries coming together as a consolidated team this could have never happened.
Today OSAH enjoys a beautiful environment to conduct business that addressed all of the challenges as well as incorporating a legal space equal to any that meets all of the current trends that have become important for a productive work space.