The global company 3M might be best known for creating a wide range of indispensible adhesive and stationery products, but its latest endeavour goes back to the spirit of problem solving and innovative thinking that set it apart in the first place.
3M recently unveiled a new Design Center, which is focused on enhancing creativity for its in-house design team. ‘The 3M Design Center enables colocation of designers from multiple creative disciplines – ranging from graphics to products, to user experience, materials, and packaging – across the company,’ says chief design officer Eric Quint. ‘The inspirational workspace offers continued advancement of collaborative creativity and design leadership. This studio represents a hybrid model of workspaces to accommodate creative activities supporting the 3M Design mission. The engaging space is a catalyst for creative engagement and dialogue for our design talent.’
Spanning 38,000 sq ft within 3M’s headquarters in St Paul, Minnesota, the colourful design hub is a mix of independent meeting areas that can be turned into communal and collaborative work zones. The design centre also takes energy efficient measures, such as climate control, efficient lighting systems and the use of recycled materials to create an eco-friendly and forward-thinking environment.
Quint continues, ‘The 3M Design Center is not just about a new space, but also a broader platform to strengthen the focus and orchestration of design across the enterprise. Previously, much of our talent was fragmented in different areas of the company, exposing the need for a strong design culture and mission going forward. Now, we’re able to bring far more strategic focus in an open and creative space that is four times the area previously occupied by our creative team.’
He adds, ‘The design centre itself was created by our designers, for our designers. Here, we also applied an interdisciplinary approach in the creative direction and design of the studio space to realise an attractive and engaging environment. This includes a fast prototyping lab, materials library, brand labs and an interactive area known as the "Design Hive", all to ignite cross-functional collaboration among partners, customers and colleagues at 3M headquarters.’
Chief design officer Eric Quint says, 'The design centre itself was created by our designers, for our designers. Here, we applied an interdisciplinary approach in the creative direction and design of the studio space to realise an attractive and engaging environment'
The Design Center takes energy efficient measures, such as climate control, efficient lighting systems and the use of recycled materials, to create an eco-friendly and forward-thinking environment
Spanning 38,000 sq ft within 3M’s headquarters in St Paul, Minnesota, the colourful design hub is a mix of independent meeting areas that can be turned into communal and collaborative work areas
-
MoMA names Christophe Cherix its new directorThe Swiss-born curator has worked in the Museum of Modern Art’s drawings and prints department since 2007
-
The Yale Center for British Art, Louis Kahn’s final project, glows anew after a two-year closureAfter years of restoration, a modernist jewel and a treasure trove of British artwork can be seen in a whole new light
-
How Le Corbusier defined modernismLe Corbusier was not only one of 20th-century architecture's leading figures but also a defining father of modernism, as well as a polarising figure; here, we explore the life and work of an architect who was influential far beyond his field and time
-
The upcoming Zaha Hadid Architects projects set to transform the horizonA peek at Zaha Hadid Architects’ future projects, which will comprise some of the most innovative and intriguing structures in the world
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s last house has finally been built – and you can stay thereFrank Lloyd Wright’s final residential commission, RiverRock, has come to life. But, constructed 66 years after his death, can it be considered a true ‘Wright’?
-
Heritage and conservation after the fires: what’s next for Los Angeles?In the second instalment of our 'Rebuilding LA' series, we explore a way forward for historical treasures under threat
-
Why this rare Frank Lloyd Wright house is considered one of Chicago’s ‘most endangered’ buildingsThe JJ Walser House has sat derelict for six years. But preservationists hope the building will have a vibrant second act
-
Buy a slice of California’s midcentury modern history with this 1955 Pasadena houseConrad Buff II Residence has been fully restored and updated for the 21st century
-
Step inside a writer's Richard Neutra-designed apartment in Los AngelesMichael Webb, invites us into his LA home – a showcase of modernist living
-
Join our world tour of contemporary homes across five continentsWe take a world tour of contemporary homes, exploring case studies of how we live; we make five stops across five continents
-
The Architecture of Seduction: how Horace Gifford built a modernist, queer paradiseFire Island is explored through a new edition of Christopher Rawlins’ seminal architectural and social history book on the life and work of Horace Gifford
