Project Walk-Through

Dex Media Headquarters

Denver, Colorado

AnneMarie Dienstbach
RNL Denver, Colorado

BY NORA BURBA TRULSSON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RON POLLARD

Dex corporate colors band a conference room and provide a spot for recessed lighting.

Most of us grew up with the Yellow Pages, the well-thumbed, doodled-upon, golden-hued phone directory for business listings. In more recent years, we’ve become familiar with the balding, bespectacled television commercial character Dex, the font of information for what’s now known as Dex Media, who touts the the firm’s newer online and mobile directory offerings.
In designing Dex Media’s new suburban Denver regional headquarters, RNL principal and interior designer AnneMarie Dienstbach used the firm’s papery past and its technology-forward future as inspiration for sunny, bright workplaces for some 1,300 employees.

RNL, a Denver-based architectural firm, had previously done work for Dex Media, explains Dienstbach, who worked on the new headquarters project with colleagues Sarah McGarry, IIDA, LEED AP; Rene Stemel, LEED AP; Michelle Richter, LEED AP; and Michael Slater, LEED AP. RNL provided programming, interior design, MEP engineering and lighting design for the project. “Dex put us on an aggressive design schedule for this project,” explains Dienstbach, who served as project manager. “We started in October 2007 and completed the work by September 2008.”

The break room was designed in a vintage diner style.

Adding to the project challenge was the fact that the headquarters was to be split between two buildings, one a six-story space for Dex executives and one a four-story space for union employees, with each one totaling approximately 140,000 square feet. “It was a bit like managing two separate projects,” admits Dienstbach.

Hallways were designed with illuminated reveals, evoking patterns of circuit boards.

To meet the deadline, the RNL team came up with several strategies for the project, including developing a prototype floor layout for both buildings and creating a universal floorplan that encourages the moving of people, rather than walls or workspaces, when the company’s needs change. “We wanted both buildings to look and feel similar,” Dienstbach says.

The design team created a signature look for each floor, starting with the elevator lobbies. The lobbies’ end walls and ceilings were clad in sculpted MDF board, done in a Yellow Pages yellow, reminiscent of the color and texture of a well-worn directory. Adjacent walls were patterned with reveals and LED lights, evoking patterns of circuit boards. Each floor’s design becomes more high-tech as it leaves the yellow elevator lobbies.

Off the elevator lobbies, conference rooms were banded with corporate colors of yellow, green and blue, providing a framework and, across the ceilings, a place for recessed lighting and projection equipment. Each floor also has a mail/print breakout space, marked by cork-backed perforated metal panels, which double as display space; yellow carpeting and low, round seats for informal gatherings.

Elevator lobbies were clad with textured yellow MDF board, reminiscent of the look of well-thumbed Yellow Pages directories. Each lobby was also detailed with distinctive artwork.

Other informal meeting places in each building include circular “huddle” spaces--quiet spots furnished with more of the round seats--and sunny break rooms, furnished in a vintage diner look with upholstered banquettes and metal bar stools.

Dienstbach and the RNL team also put to use environmentally friendly design strategies through the use of such elements as recycled-content carpeting, daylighting and energy-efficient lighting controls.

“The design for both buildings was created for the attraction and retention of employees,” says Dienstbach, summarizing the project. “It’s meant to appeal to both the most youthful work and the more seasoned employee.”

Interior design, programming, MEP engineering and lighting design: RNL, 1050 17th St., Suite A200, Denver, CO 80265; (303) 295-1717 or www.rnldesign.com.
Carpet tiles: InterfaceFlor, www.interfaceflor.com.
Work systems and break room banquettes: Steelecase, www.steelcase.com.
“Pebbles” round seating and metal bar stools: Allermuir, www.allermuir.com.