a library and game lounge next to the café in video game publisher 2K's Montreal office — A library and game lounge next to the café provides a place for respite or small team meetings.

May 15, 2023

This Video Game Publisher’s Office is a Study in Contrasts

When imagining the offices of a video game publisher, one might picture something techy and corporate or garish and whimsical. The newest Montreal outpost of video game publisher 2K is happily neither. To handle the job, they tapped local firm ACDF Architecture, whose portfolio includes a mix of workplace and residential projects. It shows in the finished project, which exudes a warmth and sophistication reminiscent of a high-end boutique hotel.

Throughout the 30,000-square-foot space, the design team played with light, color, and proportion, with pockets of contrast. Compare the dark and subdued workspaces, which host up to 150 employees, with the ultra-bright garden nooks. Those are carefully aligned with the building’s windows to bring in enough light to make them a vivarium of real plants. These can be closed off with white curtains to make them private meeting spaces, joining a bevy of other breakout, lounge, and conference rooms interspersed through the mostly communal work zones. The balance of quiet, head-down workstations plus areas for social engagement and relaxation—all wrapped in a biophilic, retro-futuristic skin—makes this an office that beats working from home.

Behind the Design of 2K’s Montreal Office by ACDF

the kitchen area of the 2K office in Montreal — In the kitchen area, an existing polished concrete slab with Pedrali chairs on one side and matte epoxy painted floors with Ton chairs on the other provide black and white contrast.

copper-toned shelving holds plants in front of a coffee table at the 2K office Montreal — Chairs and coffee table from Hay sit in front of shining copper-toned shelving.

the shiny hallway with concrete flooring in the office of 2K, a video game publisher — Octolux aluminum alloy panels are brushed to a mirror finish on the left side of a hallway, while the right is a wall of glass backed by an amber-hued coating.

a sculpture from the Bioshock franchise beside the reception desk at 2K — Next to the custom white oak veneered reception desk is a sculpture from the studio’s popular Bioshock franchise.

a "pocket garden" inside the 2K office — Pocket gardens can be found throughout the office, aligned with the position and direction of the windows for maximum brightness.

a workspace with desks and dividers inside the 2K video game office — The main workspace, open but divided into five separate zones, is tonally darker and quieter than the rest of the office for focused work.

a private phone room with a glass door in 2K — A private phone room has furnishings by Pedrali.

rows of pendant lights hang from the ceiling and plants adorn the space in the café of an office — Bright fixtures in the café are by local maker Luminaire Authentik.

a coworking zone flanked by greenery in the Montreal 2K office — A custom planter of folded and painted steel adds greenery to a coworking zone.

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