The Welcome, A Lobby Upgraded
A lobby redesigned so that coming home feels like it should — like an arrival, not just an entrance.
The lobby is the first thing residents experience every time they return home and the first thing guests see when they visit. It sets the expectation for everything that follows. This Bellevue lobby had strong bones — the space and light were there — but the design hadn’t kept pace with the building’s upgrades elsewhere.
The redesign elevated every surface and every moment: a marble reception desk that reads as permanent and intentional, lounge seating with real comfort and design presence, a lighting scheme that works for morning transit and evening arrival, and art that gives the space a point of view.
Designed for the Arrival
The marble reception desk anchors the space — it communicates quality at a glance and provides the lobby with a clear organizational center. The lounge seating flanking it uses curved forms and layered textiles that invite you to slow down, to notice that the space was designed for you. Golden accents throughout provide warmth against the cooler stone tones.
The art selection was treated as an architectural decision, not a decorating one. The butterfly piece in the lounge area operates at the scale of the wall — it’s a spatial move, not a framed print. It gives the lobby a memory, something residents and guests register even when they’re passing through quickly.
The Work Begins With One Conversation
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Golden accents, layered seating, and a quality of light that earns a second look.
The Challenge: Upgrading Without Disruption
A lobby renovation in an occupied building has to be phased carefully — residents are passing through daily, deliveries continue, the building’s front door can’t go dark for weeks. The design had to be achievable in phases without leaving the lobby in an incomplete state between them.
The existing lobby had some elements worth keeping — the ceiling height, the natural light from the glazed entry, the basic spatial layout. The redesign worked with those assets rather than against them, directing budget toward the surfaces and furnishings that would have the highest visual impact.
“A lobby that residents are proud of changes how they describe the building to everyone they know.”
How We Elevated the Lobby
The reception desk was the first decision — it’s the spatial anchor and the first thing eyes go to on entry. Marble was specified for permanence and quality signaling. The form is clean and monolithic: no ornamental detail, just good stone and careful proportion.
Lounge furniture was selected for its dual function: it needs to work for a resident checking their phone for five minutes and for a guest waiting twenty. Curved sofa forms and layered throw textiles do both. The furniture groupings are arranged to allow both occupied and unoccupied states to feel intentional — the lobby shouldn’t look empty when no one is in it.
Lighting was layered across three sources: ambient overhead, accent lighting at the art, and warm table lamps in the lounge zone. The layering allows the lobby to be adjusted for different times of day — bright and clear for morning transit, warmer and more atmospheric for evening arrivals.
Frequently Asked
The work in this portfolio is the standard we hold ourselves to on every project — not just the celebrated ones.Your home should stop you. Every time you walk in.
