Our design of Retool’s Mission District headquarters encourages observation, personal connection, and reflection. Careful consideration of the potential internal happenings inspired the space’s design foundation: a new perspective of “the workplace,” company culture, and — most importantly — its people. We posed challenging questions and represented our responses through a collage Anand titled “Future Memories.” As a young, fast-growing technology company, the new multi-floor office space needed to be a place for people to connect in memorable ways. 

We transformed 72,000 square feet of commercial office space across four floors of a historic industrial building, previously the Hamm’s Brewery Building. The new reception cafe serves as a threshold to greet guests and staff and consists of moody design details: sage green concrete tile, sculptural overhead lighting, custom neon signage by SF-based Meryl Pataky, and a myriad of seating for dining, working and lounging. The reception now opens to Retool’s amenity floor with a quiet library, multiple large conference rooms,  an earthy lunchroom featuring rustic zellige tiles, and four new showers clad in vibrant patterned cadmium-colored concrete tiles. 

On the sixth floor, we reimagined the roof deck overlooking the San Francisco skyline into a lush open-air experience, perfect for hosting company happy hours and entertaining guests. Inside, a full bar with artful green wallpaper, angularly adjustable pendants, and a large arrangement of outdoor-inspired lounge furniture brings vibrancy, curiosity, and playfulness into the gathering spaces. Deep window benches offer semi-private alcoves to work and meet while meditating on the view. 

The eighth and ninth floors were fast-tracked to accommodate the growing company; Anand strategically met the aggressive schedule by selecting finishes and fixtures from within his network — a Fireclay Tile collaboration with BlockShop, Flat Vernacular Wallpaper, and a few dozen reused Fyrn Chairs acquired from a high-end restaurant in Los Angeles. Almost half of the project’s furniture was selected as reused due to pandemic-era supply chain issues, setting a sustainability standard that also served schedule, budget, and project feasibility. 

Careful design decisions tie the four-floor design program together with purpose and ease — art from architectural artists like Rowan Bouroullec, Natascha Madeiski, Sohan Murthy and Tauba Aerbach fill the walls. All conference rooms feature a uniquely painted wainscot application using Farrow and Ball colors that coordinate with Maharam Fabrics upholstery. We added accessories like accent pillows, rugs, coasters, planters, and Japanese toolboxes to complete the space.

The New York iteration of Retool’s workplace design features a complimentary palette of wall finishes from repeat vendors and Abnormal Anonymous, a similarly monumental amount of reused furniture, and strategic lighting upgrades throughout.

We break the formality of the typical office reception and welcome guests and employees alike into a working lounge, outfitted with a second custom neon sign by NY-based Ali Feeney over brand-reminiscent wallpaper. The lunchroom and meeting rooms adopted the same painted wainscot approach, a decided favorite for accenting spaces with exposed ceilings, and acoustic materials integrated into ceilings, walls, lighting and custom curtains.

Project Recognition

• Interior Design Magazine, “Color and Character Enliven Offices for a Growing Tech Brand”

The Team

Retool (Chloe Bosmeny), SF: Built by DA Pope, Managed by Raise, Architect of Record: ASD|SKY, Furniture collaboration with Pear Workplace, Photographed by Nicholas Ruiz. NYC: Photographed by Joe Kramm.

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