'Leap of faith' lands IBM critically-acclaimed space. (Real Estate Special Report -- L.A. Turns Inward).

THE design of the IBM e-business offices in Santa Monica has been a far bigger success than the Big Blue unit itself.

The 52,000-square-foot "Innovation Center," designed as a place where businesspeople could get help on building Internet businesses, was finished in early 2001 but a year later it has been largely shut down, with most of the 200 employees relocated to other IBM sites. The interior design, however, was never considered the problem.

"IBM took a big leap of faith. This was something entirely new and different," said HOK vice-president Brett Shwery, who oversaw the office design. "It was a place where ideas could be designed and implemented for a given client right in front of them."

Occupying four floors at the Arboretum Courtyard complex, 110K created a bright open space with high ceilings. On the ground floor was a briefing center with two rooms featuring interactive plasma screens. Prospective clients could type questions and answers on keypads as they perused the presentations.

Technicians, designers and strategic planners occupied the second and third floors on wide, open floors without cubicles or private offices. Clients could see their projects being worked on and implemented. The fourth floor was where IBM pitched its services.

The critics loved it. The center won two prestigious awards last year from the International Interior Design Association. Interior Design magazine profiled the offices in its November 2001 issue, breathlessly proclaiming that HOK had "succeeded in providing a fresh alternative to the quintessentially buttoned-up corporate image of Big Blue with a sleekly modernist design that avoids the pratfalls of mid-century cliches."

Typical of the Internet optimism at the time was the open, non-hierarchical feel of the space, as well as the amenities for the employees that included a shower room and a game room. Rooms where IBM workers could take a break had espresso bars and were located next to exterior balconies. The rooms also had data portals for laptop computers.

"We were very pleased with the work HOK did," said IBM spokeswoman Gretchen McWhorter. "It was based on our philosophy of creativity, communication and teamwork. The interactive design of some of the rooms was a major component, it was very light and airy."

But IBM's e-business unit didn't generate the kind of revenue the company wanted and it raises the question of whether this kind of high-tech office space was merely an anomaly or a precursor of things to come. Shwery maintains more offices will look like this one.

"We're still designing spaces that have the same things," he said. "I don't see that going away."

RELATED ARTICLE: Best Interior Design

Project: IBM e-Business

Player: Brett Shwery, vice-president and project manager, HOK Inc.

The Deal: The 52,000 square-feet of modern interactive office space is considered state of the art for its integration of technology. The design ha be cited for the way it fosters communication not only between workers but their clients though the IBM e-commerce business or which the offices were designed was not successful, architects believe that the design concept will become a trendsetter for many other workplaces.