Mississauga Branch Office Space

Dora Yeoh, of Kiia Architecture, the firm responsible for design of the new 3M space, says the wall was designed to look "like a sandpaper fence".

If your company sold widgets and widgets were used to hold bulletin boards on the wall, then you would likely use them if you were constructing new office space. What do you do though, when your company makes over 50,000 different types of widgets - used in every imaginable way? With over 50,000 different products, 3M Canada wanted to make use of as many of them as possible in the design of their new office space for their Toronto Branch in Mississauga, Ontario. The challenge was not to find enough 3M products to give a feel for being in 3M space, but how to make use of the variety available? In answering that question, the space became an innovative and unique showcase for 3M products and technology.

The office was cabled with 3M Volition™ Fibre Optic Cable. A large logo sign, hanging over the glass and steel staircase makes use of 3M™ Scotchcal™ Dusted Crystal Film - creating an etched glass effect. Signs on the exterior of the building also make use of 3M technology. The parking and visitor signs are covered with 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflector Film and 3M™ Scotchcal™ Film. An exterior lighted sign is done with Red 3M™ Scotchcal™ Film. Back inside the building, the "Customer Innovation Centre" -- an area designed to showcase how 3M products work, has a gleaming 3M™ ESD Epoxy Flooring System. The floor of the Communications room has 3M™ Static Dissipative Floor Tile, 8400 Series. All carpet has been treated with Scotchgard™ Protector for Carpet and 3M™ Floor Matting (Nomad™, Enhance™ and Fatigue™) is used in appropriate areas.

How do you showcase your company's original product, if as in the case of 3M, the original product is sandpaper? Just use a little creativity. Along the reception area wall, 3M™ Trizact™ Abrasive runs in strips. Dora Yeoh, of Kiia Architecture, the firm responsible for design of the new 3M space, says the wall was designed to look "like a sandpaper fence". Likewise, a feature wall in the first floor lobby is covered in 3M™ Colorquartz™ Aggregate, decorative ceramic-coated coloured quartz granules.

The product usage continues throughout the space, including 3M™ Audio Visual equipment in conference rooms. For the products that simply couldn't be incorporated into the design and function (how do you include 3M™ Nexcare™ Waterproof Bandages with Tattoo Designs in office design?) excavation walls provide different sizes of display niches that can showcase 3M's products, history or news.

The office space is both user friendly and a magnificent testimony to the variety of innovative 3M products. So who needs widgets when there are over 50,000 other products to showcase?