Ten Percent Happier is an unlikely pairing of open office and multipurpose meditation space that, together, embody the app-guided mindfulness company’s mission of ‘meditation demystified’.
Situated in the corner of a historic building in downtown Boston, the space was divided by a thin hallway that suggested a natural buffer between workspace and a communal meditation/ multipurpose space. This public amenity’s sculptural, spur-shape expands and contracts in response to shifting functions via an acoustic fabric wall system. The operable partitions create a scalloped perimeter whose negative spaces serve as breakouts for independent work when closed and combine with the central space to accommodate classes, presentations, and public meditation sessions when open. Centered upon an illuminated oculus, the space is punctuated by an off-center cast iron column that reveals the existing building’s grit and acknowledges the messy moments that mark even the most meditatively-centered existence. The workspace consists of open desking around a central cluster of meeting rooms and library. Flexible lounges distributed throughout the open office offer opportunities for quiet, away-from-desk work while enclosed areas at the rear of the space support podcast recording and sound editing programs.
Aside from its programmatic pairing, the architecture prioritizes personal well-being in its soft forms, calming palette, daylight access, and hanging greenery. This equilibrium between work and wellness, productivity and personal care might serve as a model for all offices – not just that of a company committed to mindfulness. Like the aim of its occupant, this small space has a realistic scope of impact: that the people who occupy it might be just ten percent happier. A modest metric that – as a model for future development – could have a far-reaching effect.
