Slack, the world?s fastest growing tech company in history, is a San Francisco based startup offering a revolutionary team communication app for business. After just a handful of years, the company had already opened offices around the globe including Vancouver, New York, Melbourne, London, and Dublin. Each office occupies a former industrial building with interiors that honor the property?s legacy, renew its productivity, and reflect Slack?s values of empathy, solidarity, and craftsmanship.

© Shai Gil

Architects: Dubbeldam Architecture + Design

Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

Lead Architect: Heather Dubbeldam

Project Team: Scott Sampson, Andrew Snow

Area: 23000.0 ft2

Project Year: 2017

Photographs: Shai Gil

Lighting Design: Marcel Dion

Custom Cnc Peg Boards: Atelier Kozak

Custom Felt Cladding: Felt Studio

© Shai Gil

Text description provided by the architects. Slack, the world?s fastest growing tech company in history, is a San Francisco based startup offering a revolutionary team communication app for business. After just a handful of years, the company had already opened offices around the globe including Vancouver, New York, Melbourne, London, and Dublin. Each office occupies a former industrial building with interiors that honor the property?s legacy, renew its productivity, and reflect Slack?s values of empathy, solidarity, and craftsmanship.
© Shai Gil

For their Toronto location, Slack sought to create an imaginative space that reflected their company culture and its relationship with craft and technology. Set in a former knitting and textile factory in the heart of downtown Toronto, three stories within the interior of this mid-rise brick and beam building were redesigned to meet all the needs of a twenty-first-century tech company, inspired both by the building?s heritage and the company?s work culture.

© Shai Gil

The project team drew from a ?threads of communication? concept using linear geometries throughout the space, such as continuous angular light fixtures and colored networking cables running through the length of the office on the ceiling and walls. These enliven the space in an homage to the lines of yarn that were used in the mechanized knitting process, while also referencing the communication service of the messaging application itself. In the reception area, the design team worked with long-term collaborator Kathryn Walter of Felt Studio who wrapped diagonal strips of industrial felt along the walls and ceiling, creating a warm and inviting environment as soon as you step into the office.

Floor Plans

A feature characteristic of the interior is the bold, contrasting pops of color that demarcate distinct areas including solitary workstations, phone booths, break-out meeting rooms, a staff lounge and sleek executive boardroom. Each zone corresponds to a single colo...