Gig City Games is a newly opened internet café striving to provide a hub for the online gaming community in Chattanooga. The Office Furniture Works team recently had the opportunity to work with Gig City Games on furnishing their flagship location in Chattanooga’s historic MLK neighborhood with a contemporary arrangement of computer desks.
Objectives
The Space
The owner of Gig City Games owns the building and, up until recently, has leased it to another business. After making the decision to launch the internet café, the owner renovated the space and began working diligently toward it’s opening (for instance, custom-building 25 gaming computers). The space has approximately 700 sqft. of open space up front with a partitioned private area in the back.
The People
Aside from staffing reception, the only people in the “workspace” will be the patrons. Customers can purchase time at any individual gaming stations, and groups can rent the private area. Since these areas aren’t assigned, Gig City can expect high traffic at individual stations over the course of business hours. To make the space fit his business model, Gig City’s owner needed the main space to accommodate 20 individual gaming stations and a 5-person group gaming setting in the rear space.
“I want to create a sense of community in the Chattanooga area for online gamers. Sufficient amenities [for gamers] are hard to come by in the Southeast, and we have a sizeable market to cater to. Our goal is to keep that community comfortable and connected in a central location.” – Joseph Card, Owner
Solutions
Gaming Workstations
For both the main space and private area, we created a benching arrangement of computer desks. Each workstation is 36″ wide. However, in a benching system, it’s less expensive to utilize longer surfaces (less pieces). So, with a few exceptions, we used worksurface partitions on 72″ desks to fit the gaming workstations along each wall and allow plenty of space to move around. Rows of (12), (5), (2) and a single stand-alone gaming workstation occupy the main space, with groups of (3) and (2) backed against one another in the group space.
Computer Desks
Each of the gaming workstations encompasses a 36″ space with the very popular gaming chair colloquially known as the “stormtrooper”. Beneath the computer desks, we chose to use “half-leg” supports (versus a full “u-leg”). With 36″ workstations, two-legged supports would crowd occupants toward the center of the desk. By utilizing the “half-leg”, we created more leg room and saved…*about half* on the computer desks’ supports. Above the worksurface, a 15″ x 30″ acrylic panel is bracket-mounted to divide the individual gaming workstations.
Reception Desk
Finally, we installed a large reception station to match the computer desks. The reception desk is 72″ wide and 96″ deep from the front door with a 12″ frosted panel supporting the wraparound transaction top. We utilized the same “half-leg” solution between worksurfaces on the 96″ return to provide ample space for multiple reception staff.
Results
“My experience with the OFW team was overwhelmingly positive –
they brought a great solution to the table and have delivered consistently since then. I’d recommend Office Furniture Works as a resource to anyone in business or opening up shop, and am continuing to utilize their services for Gig City Games.”
– Joseph Card, Owner
Thanks for Reading!
A cohesive workspace takes more than matching computer desks.
Office Furniture Works is striving to be a resource to businesses of all sizes as they take on transitions and pursue their objectives through the built environment. Do you have a workplace transition on the horizon, or just on the brain?