ROOTS CANADA

The Response

To crystallize Roots’ vision for its new headquarters, Bullock Associates and Office Source — Teknion’s authorized dealer for the project — worked closely with Don Green to go beyond conventional planning concepts.  The ie product that captured Green’s imagination was used throughout and translucent membrane screens applied to the ie post and beam framework to define individual workstations that feel private compromising the light, open feel.

Teknion’s ie product team also created a custom solution that solved the problem of samples storage.  Celia Spaulding, Marketing Director for the Office Source, notes that, “Utilizing the inherent strength of ie’s post-and-beam structure, Teknion designed a series of coat rods that could hang off the beams.  In turn, ie has been configured into a hexagonal cabin application.  The cabins, which form team workstation clusters, integrate Roots garment and fashion samples right into the work area.”    

Dalquen adds:  “While we wanted to showcase the rich variety of colors of the Roots product samples, we also wanted to keep visual clutter to a minimum.”  Translucent screens acted as a “neutralizing wrap” around the storage cabins to contain the colorful samples yet maintain a clean, simple look.

Green remarked that the ie screens were reminiscent of a modern campsite.  “The workstation clusters, cabins and translucent screens really remind me of tents — and that’s very much consistent with the Roots culture.  That’s a great feeling.”

Everyone involved in creating the Roots workspace agrees that ie helped to express the company’s core values of quality, integrity and creativity and its commitment to health and environmental responsibility.  The open, airy space maximizes natural light and air circulation and ie’s design ensures a long lifecycle.  Dalquen sums up, “The great thing about this product is that it is so clean and simple, so responsive in its functionality and aesthetic, that it will still be new 10 years from now.”