Wander past Richmond's WPA-era Saunders Station, and you get little hint of the innovation happening inside. Recently, lovingly renovated, it now serves as the offices for the software firm Mobelux. As designers themselves, it took the team nearly a year to make sure all the details were right, from a custom wayfinding system and signage to integrating the modern with the historical. The result is a workplace that pays respect to and yet builds upon what came before — just like any good product.
The original marble and terrazzo lobby now doubles as a presentation space, and the maple-floored work floor has returned to the open plan it had when serving as a post office in the 1930s, complete with an inspector walkway above. Other highlights include a kitchen in the space formerly used to load mail Jeeps, a library placed in front of the vault, a bar and billiards area built out of a boiler room, and a long-forgotten lockerroom transformed into the company theater. Despite the changes, all you need to do is look at the carved eagle above the entrance for a reminder of the space's former use, and for an appreciation of the work involved to prepare it for decades of future service.
