Shepley Bulfinch has moved its Boston operations into an 8,750-square-foot studio at 200 State St., Suite 805, ending a long run in the Ames Building and later the firm-designed 2 Seaport tower. The new space, which the firm both designed and built as architect of record, is organized around unassigned work settings rather than fixed desks, reflecting how the practice itself works today.
Designing for fluctuating attendance
Rather than allocating permanent desks, the studio offers a mix of collaborative areas, focus zones, meeting rooms and breakout spaces that employees choose based on their task and the day's attendance. A central multipurpose lounge anchors the floor as a gathering point for teamwork and firmwide events, while an adjacent workshop and maker space keeps model-building and prototyping visible rather than tucked away, underscoring the firm's open design process.
Technology threaded through workstations and meeting rooms - including universally accessible desktop setups and smart projectors for real-time sketching over video - is meant to keep remote and in-office colleagues working together smoothly. Acoustic treatments, sound-masking systems, reinforced wall assemblies and high-performance glazing address a common hybrid-office trade-off: enabling open collaboration without sacrificing the quiet needed for concentrated work.
Wellness and accessibility shaped the site selection
CEO and president Angela Watson said the studio was designed to express a distinct Boston identity, with strong physical and visual ties to the Harbor and the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Daylight reaches deep into the floor plate, and dedicated wellness rooms give employees quieter spaces to step away during the day. Wood finishes and greenery add biophilic touches, and materials were chosen under the firm's Healthy Materials Pledge, which guides selections toward healthier indoor environments.
Location mattered as much as interior layout: 200 State Street sits within walking distance of North and South Stations, giving employees easier transit access regardless of commute origin. On-site amenities - a gym, yoga studio and lobby café - also factored into the decision, reflecting a broader argument the firm makes about workplace design: that equitable access to a building is as important as how the space performs once employees are inside it.
A workspace that keeps its history visible
The studio includes a curated, rotating display of archival materials tracing back to founder Henry Hobson Richardson, whose Trinity Church project helped establish the firm in 1874. Placing that history alongside a flexible, technology-enabled workplace lets Shepley Bulfinch apply the same participatory, research-driven methods it uses on institutional projects to its own office - treating the studio itself as a built example of the firm's design philosophy rather than simply new real estate.