HDA Looks Past Downturn

Despite the down economy, one St. Louis area design firm is figuring to grow. St. Louis-based HDA Architects moved to larger quarters in January.
“Our goal was to prepare for future growth,” said Kim Herbeck, interior designer at HDA and the person responsible for the interior design of the
firm’s new office suite.

HDA’s new offices in Central Park Square One in Chesterfield have 7,600 square feet, or 26 percent more space than their old offices in Maryville.
“We have two more private offices and room for six more work stations,” said Patrick Holleran, director of marketing.

“As a bonus, we have more natural light and it is quieter and more peaceful,” he said.

Herbeck’s design emphasizes teamwork. “The private offices don’t have doors and we brought them into proximity with the open office space,” she said,
“and we have lower partitions between work stations than in the old office to make teamwork easier.” She also deepened the work stations so that people would have room to roll-out a full set of plans at their desks. Herbeck also added an extra conference room, since the conference room in the old office space was always in great demand as a space where people could work together.

The new space also serves as a marketing tool— the artwork on the walls now depicts HDA projects.

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