When Tas Giakouminakis, Chad Loder, and Alan Matthews founded Rapid 7 to provide IT security solutions via contextual threat analysis and data collection, they were traveling along New York City’s MTA express 7 elevated subway line. The company name applies not only to the founders’ “ah ha!” moment, but also their virtual workplace—the information super highway.
Graduating from an office with few physical ties to the Rapid 7 brand—their original offices formerly housed financial services and the company moved in as-is—IA Interior Architects helped craft a new space that supports the company’s culture. Two levels across 35,000 square feet were adapted to support Rapid 7’s sales, marketing, finance, legal departments, and C-suites in Boston.
“This was their ‘growing up space,’” said Paul Comeau, project manager with IA. “Like moving from your college dorm to your first home, this was Rapid 7’s opportunity to personalize and brand their office.”
“We took the concept of trains and transit maps—the continuous line marked by stops along the way—and designed a linear approach,” Dockery explains. Working with IA’s environmental graphics design team, the train line graphic features significant points in Rapid 7’s history in lieu of train stops.
The design team also incorporated the company mascot, drawn by one of Rapid 7’s graphic designers. “The moose is also featured throughout the space,” Comeau says. “The moose, which has no plural, emphasizes the importance of teamwork.”
The elevator lobby timeline points visitors to the lobby.
The staircase is customized with orange parachute thread.
A cafe is surrounded by touchdown workspaces to support brief meetings.
The new plan features 80 percent open workspace, and 20 percent closed.
The transit theme and brand colors carry through the pantry.
Glass enclosed meeting rooms maintain transparency.
All photos by Robert Benson.
IA is a global firm of architects, designers, strategists, and specialists. We focus exclusively on environments through the lens of interior architecture—a radical idea in 1984, when IA was founded. We are highly connected agents of change, committed to creativity, innovation, growth, and community.
IA is a global firm of architects, designers, strategists, and specialists. We focus exclusively on environments through the lens of interior architecture—a radical idea in 1984, when IA was founded. We are highly connected agents of change, committed to creativity, innovation, growth, and community.