Controversial opinion alert: I miss the office. So much so, in fact, that my mind to review history has managed to erase all memory of the boring carpet tiles, ill-fitting bathroom fixtures, and those ugly ceiling tiles that often define corporate spaces. Returning to the office, however, requires more than opening doors and taking out key cards. It asked companies to consider the most important question: What is really worth giving back?
For McLeish Orlando Lawyers, a boutique law firm in downtown Toronto, the answer was not another polished but functional lunchroom. The company registeredStudio Ha/Waturning an unused 530-square-foot lounge into a 685-square-foot lounge designed for the full range of office life: morning coffee, quiet resets, impromptu meetings, lunches, after-hours gatherings, and the daily communication glue that is often difficult to produce with Zoom.
Located on the 18th floor of a high-rise office tower, the new lounge combines a front restaurant with an adjacent office to create an open, layered space that feels closer to a lobby or members’ club than a typical business space. It is a particularly timely proposal. As workplaces continue to renew their relationship with personal culture, Studio Ha/Wa’s design offers a number of useful takeaways for organizations hoping to make back-office spaces passive and magnetic.
Start with the Space People Really Want to Use
The first lunch room was cold, simple to use, and limited in what it could offer the workers beyond a place to eat. Studio Ha/Wa’s first move was therefore conceptual rather than decorative: shift the ownership of the room from a lounge to a public space. Here, the lounge offers soft chairs for conversation or pressure; meetings take informal meetings; dining tables support lunch and group work; and the kitchen reinforces the room by adapting to a shared domestic routine.
Think Spaces, Not Rooms
Rather than dividing the living space into rigid rooms, Studio Ha/Wa used an open plan with separate dining, kitchen and lounge areas. The technique maintains sight lines and circulation while allowing each area to maintain its own rhythm. Here, zoning can be established by using furniture collections, lighting, visual changes, and subtle changes in scale. In a law firm lounge, perimeter banquettes help save space and keep the center clear, while rectangular dining tables can work independently or be pushed together for larger gatherings. Counter stools fold up under the island when not in use, and nesting coffee tables can expand or contract depending on the group.
Give the Ceiling some credit
One of the strongest features of the living room is above eye level. The previously lowered acoustic-tile ceiling was replaced with a beamed, rift-cut white oak ceiling that introduces warmth, movement, and visual rhythm while concealing the mechanical systems above. Oak also creates a unifying architectural language throughout the resort. It wraps the columns, continues the work of the kitchen mill, and works in dialogue with the porcelain flooring below. It’s a reminder that the ceiling is often treated as a necessary infrastructure rather than an opportunity for space.
Let Resilience Do the Hard Work
A workplace break room should feel comfortable, but it can’t be cramped. Studio Ha/Wa balances the softness of a residential-inspired palette with materials designed for commercial wear: porcelain tile flooring, quartz countertops, leather chairs, vinyl deals, and performance-grade fabrics. The color palette of the living room helps to strengthen this balance. White walls, tonal grays, black accents, and warm oak accents create a neutral base, while green bouclé chairs, convertible camel velvet chairs, sage vinyl rugs, rusted leather chairs, and jewel-toned artwork by Toronto artist Alexander Jowett bring personality without going into visual clutter.
Get the Kitchen Working After Hours, Too
The kitchen is designed to do double duty: useful during the working day, but smart enough to retreat when the living room becomes an event space. Integrated appliances sit behind matching oak panels, cabinet microwaves are tucked under the counter height, and an electrical garage hides a daily lineup of coffee makers, kettles, and toasters. At the north end of the room, full-length Calacatta Gold tile creates a focal point instead of upper cabinets. The warm and cool natural stone veins round out the living room’s palette, while its curved profile adds texture and depth to the background AND the sculpted column of the Light column.
Style With Restraint, Then Add Character
Studio Ha/Wa is as close to a lounge as it could be to a living space, featuring new and vintage accessories, original art, sculptural dishes, and coffee table books chosen to complement the people who use the space. But the style is always organized rather than over-filled.
Designer Erin Hannon-Watkinson
“The purpose of the space, despite being designed to be versatile and within a business environment, was ultimately to be a refuge for the law firm’s staff and attorneys,” said Erin Hannon-Watkinson, founder and creative director of Studio Ha/Wa.
To learn more about Studio Ha/Wa, RDG Millwork, and MForm Construction Group––project partners––visit studiohawa.com, rdgl.ca, mformcg.com, respectively.
Photo by Niamh Barry.
