Grip Limited, Toronto

Johnson Chou’s original offices for advertising agency Grip Limited was a 2004 Best of Canada winner. The new, 21,500-square-foot headquarters includes formal and informal meeting spaces, an atrium, creative offices, open workstations, studio spaces, kitchens, lunch area, lounges, screening, editing and photography rooms and showers.

The atrium links the two floors of Grip’s double-height space with a bleacher-like stair, a slide and a fire pole. Bleacher seating provides a gathering space for full office meetings or film presentations. It functions as an impromptu, alternative workplace for laptop users.

Made of folded, hot-rolled steel and stained walnut veneer, the circular meeting and lounge area resembles a 10-person hot tub. With its democratic seating format, this area has proven useful in disarming difficult clients.

The agency adopted the slide as their symbol, a metaphor for the notion that the voyage is as important as the destination (or, as the Cunard Lines ads said, getting there is half the fun).

In deference to Grip’s brewery clients, the formal boardroom is clad in stainless steel after the fashion of a bar fridge. The interior walls are lined with sound-absorbing white synthetic grass that evokes refrigerator frost.

Sorensen: The designer was really “on” with this.

Levitt: It’s so rare to see such inventiveness and risk-taking, like putting shag carpet on the walls and not worrying about how dirty it will get. There are some rough parts, but the whole thing has been well considered.

Kruse: This one’s a standout. It has a totally different aesthetic. I’m glad they didn’t add any more colour to the space. This looks like a great place to party. That ship’s door in the stainless-steel boardroom is so crazy.

Chalmers: Putting that chandelier in the atrium is so irreverent.

Taylor: This project looks low-budget, what with the conduits running everywhere.

Rock: The fire-pole and slide don’t look very safe.

Chalmers: I’m not sure how they got that slide past the building inspector. Maybe they put it in after. I like the staircase with the double treads that functions as theatre seating, and the curved junction with wall and floor.