Behind the Curtain: Quid, Inc.

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Chair of the Month

Primo Orpilla
Primo Orpilla
Primo Orpilla is the co-founder of Studio O+A, a multi-disciplinary San Francisco design firm that has changed the way we think about work and workplace. O+A's groundbreaking designs for Facebook, Microsoft, Yelp, Nike, McDonald’s, Slack and many other companies have demonstrated the power of design to make the work environment a catalyst for creativity and a vehicle for change. As Global Chair of Student Experience at IIDA, he works to promote design education and expand opportunities for young people in the profession. A frequent lecturer on design and the future of workplace, Primo speaks at schools and design conferences globally, empowering the next generation of designers. In 2016 O+A won the Cooper Hewitt Design Award for Interior Design. In 2017 FRAME Publishers released a comprehensive retrospective of the firm's work: Studio O+A: Twelve True Tales of Workplace Design. Most recently the American Society of Interior Designers' honored Primo with its 2019 Designer of Distinction Award.

For the software engineers and information analysts at Quid’s San Francisco headquarters, the prevailing aesthetic is Stanley Kubrick meets Isaac Newton meets John Le Carre.

Our challenge was to transform a small space in a bunker-like setting into a comfortable, light-infused office. We chose to make assets of existing conditions that might be construed as problematic.

A serpentine entrance, for example, well removed from the main work area, now leads to a “space station” reception desk.

Quid, Inc. “Space Station” Reception

A library supplements its small collection of books with a larger trompe l’oeil collection on the walls.

A workspace concourse functions like the bullpen of a Fleet Street daily.

The result — slightly British and lightly retro — is in keeping with the London/Oxford pedigree of the company’s founders.

Quid, Inc. Workstations

Translating that pedigree (and attendant business culture) into design terms was a primary goal. Intelligence informs the Quid working culture, in both the Oxford and MI-5 connotations of that word.

Our finish motifs reflect both themes. In the serpentine entrance, the wallpaper graphics play on the concept of linking information in unexpected patterns.

Quid, Inc.’s Library

The library, with its mix of books and faux books, creates a visually arresting density in what is actually a sparsely furnished space.

A conference room could be a set from “Dr. Strangelove.”

Quid, Inc. Open Office

Our design emphasizes cool surfaces, indirect lighting, and graphics that speak to the inter-connectivity of data in all its forms.

These eclectic elements fuse into an elegant and surprisingly playful whole.

Resources:

  • Photography – Jasper Sanidad
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1 COMMENT

  1. Blade as far as I can tell is a good quality-more practical than fancy. The sheath fits well. not the best quality but it does the job. the hsndgusrd is pretty plain,and the only thing that bothered me is the pommel feels like plastic although it is quite well attached.

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