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Anchoring New Kensington’s Corridor of Innovation, The Corner was a joint venture aimed at catalyzing local entrepreneurism. The first of six Beauty Shoppe locations, this beautifully designed space by Canzian/Johnston & Associates was developed for working, learning, and community activity.
“The Corner provides a hi-tech, hip environment in which people can create, collaborate, facilitate and cultivate new or existing businesses,” said Heather Werkeiser of Canzian/Johnston. “I was honored to have the opportunity to be on the cross-functional team with Pennsylvania State University, the Beauty Shop, Westmoreland Industrial Development Corporation, and Workscape to help create this amazing space.”
This experience saw Workscape furnishing a co-working space with furniture and pre-fabricated walls for the first time, alongside its Construkt subsidiary. An eclectic collection of furniture products, materials, and colors from a variety of manufacturers presented both opportunities and challenges for Workscape design department.
As Tom Harold, Senior Account Manager at Workscape, relates, “Workscape’s high-level challenge was to successfully interpret the Beauty Shoppe vision for The Corner. Our design group met with the Beauty Shoppe’s team for months to understand the function and unique design intent for each of the co-operative areas.”
Morgan Stewart of Beauty Shoppe agreed, noting DIRTT as one of the enabling success factors on this project.
“Because the space is so small, we were limited with how we could lay it out but ultimately wanted the flexibility for the space to change as the identity of the product continued to develop,” said Stewart. “That is when we got connected with the folks at DIRTT to talk about their wall system and how we could lay it out with demountable partitions. One of the things we really liked about collaborating with their team is that they really worked with us to help prioritize the aspects of the project that were important tothe core goals while understanding any financial limitations.”
All parties noted with pride their involvement of this venture, which houses an entrepreneurial accelerator as well as local small businesses as part of a broader revitalization effort for New Kensington. In addition to spurring on economic activity, this space has been highlighted locally as one of “Pittsburgh’s Coolest Offices.
“The successful completion of The Corner Project was the beginning of a Workscape partnership with the Beauty Shoppe, spanning across five additional projects,” said Tom. “Each site contains its own special look, challenges, and rewards. We are proud of the work we have done.”
“We were also really happy to connect with the Workscape team to source the majority of our furniture for the project.,” added Stewart. “We were focused creating a space that was welcoming, professional, playful and refined. We put together some imagery, color palette, and a budget and they provided us with many fun options that suited our space. It was a wonderful beginning to what has become a long term partnership.”
