Wilson Meany Sullivan, Federal Realty and WRNS Studio team up on LEED Gold certified office in San Jose.

We’re often approached by developers who are in the planning stages of a major project, and need our help to visualize their ideas. In a way, we’re virtual storytellers, because we take seed of an idea, and show what the possibilities of it could be.

That’s what we did with Lot 11 at Santana Row, a 220,000-square-foot commercial office building in development, located in San Jose, California. We were approached by Wilson Meany Sullivan and Federal Realty, two of the great developers here in San Francisco, to help them create marketing tools that they would be able to use to show potential tenants.

The project, like many that we work on, is being built on spec, which means that our client doesn’t currently have a tenant. Our job is to create materials that Federal Realty can use to show to large companies that may potentially want to rent out the entire building.

To begin our work, we received all of the design files from the brilliant architecture team at WRNS Studio, including landscaping plans, interior layouts and more. After creating the models, all of the teams working on the project were able to come together and visualize the space, making changes as they saw fit.

In terms of construction, Lot 11 is a really unique space, unlike any other in San Jose. The developers are creating a high-tech building with a design that keeps the infrastructure in raw form. That means a lot of exposed concrete floors and walls, exposed brick, and high ceilings. It’s reminiscent of a lot of the buildings in the Bay Area that house tech start-ups. The overall design gives the building a more contemporary and less formal feel.

“The developers really wanted the space to be a place where creativity and new ideas could be discovered,” says Michael Semmen, co-founder of ZUM. “It’s safe to say that corporate stiffness isn’t going to be the goal here. They’re working to build a new office culture in the area.”

Complete with a glass curtain wall façade, the interior design is meant to be more energetic and playful, and give future tenants an office that feels more like a home.

“I love working on these kinds of projects, because they’re so different from the standard layout plans,” says Semmen. “It’s more fun, because there’s a lot more energy surrounding this building, and this type of construction. “

We first began work on the project in January, and have seen it evolve through various iterations. The 3D models that we’ve created have been used to assist the architects and design team, and right now we’re creating the final pieces that will be used for marketing purposes.

The project is still in its development stages, and is slated for completion in spring 2014. To read more about Lot 11, check out this piece published earlier this year by the San Jose Business Journal.