Barone Design Group Completes Shells Caribbean Headquarters

Barone Design Group, a solutions-driven architecture and interiors firm, announced today the completion of Shell Company West Indies in the Dominican Republics new headquarters in the capital city of Santo Domingo. Consolidating several offices distributed throughout the city, the new 17,000 square foot regional headquarters is located in the Acropolis Building, the citys state-of-the-art, mixed-use complex. The primary purpose of the new headquarters is to centralize Shell Oil Products-Latin Americas (SOP-LA) regional executives and business support services under one roof. The new space accommodates 90 workspaces and is designed to create a more collaborative environment as well as house the regions sophisticated networking and communications systems.

(PRWEB) February 9, 2005 -- Not only do our new offices in Santo Domingo solve important logistical issues, they provide a streamlined environment for collaboration," stated Shell Real Estate Services -- Real Estate Advisor Alan Pringle. Working within our regional office standard for Latin America, Barone Design Group established a new prototype. They listened to our needs and coordinated all elements of the project. The end result was an environment that reflects our corporation and utilizes strategies for increasing efficiency and workflow."

The new headquarters were designed with the flair of the region in mind; incorporating local artwork and elements of the region. Located within the heart of Santo Domingos business district, the offices textures and color palette combined the flavor of the local culture with the business needs of the corporation. Key design elements included a marble entry from the elevator lobby; executive suite with offices and meeting rooms; raised floor computer room; high-density file room; and an informal lunch room for the staff. Another key priority was optimizing the functional capacity of the office by incorporating a state-of-the-art technology and networking system to ensure effective communication from within the office and remotely. The introduction of sound masking in the open office environment was revolutionary to corporate projects within the country. Also incorporated were numerous clusters of open plan workplaces to improve collaboration between staff; adequate huddle rooms where individuals could meet informally; and two functional conference rooms with sophisticated audio-visual equipment to support regional meetings and international presentations.

The challenge of the new headquarters was in improving upon the previous office standards by utilizing innovative architectural, furniture and technological solutions to create a fully collaborative environment," stated Dean Barone, president, Barone Design Group. The staff was quite nervous about moving from an existing private office environment to something a lot more open. The workplace layouts in conjunction with the sound masking and meeting spaces proved successful in achieving the staff needs."

Performing the function of a design-build bridge firm, Barone Design Group provides its clients full project management capabilities on both national and international projects. The firm guides clients from inception to completion, managing every stage of the process to address both corporate and facilities projects. Shells office in Santo Domingo was officially completed and occupied in the summer of 2004.

About Barone Design Group
Barone Design Group is a solutions-driven architecture and interiors firm with over two decades of experience creating corporate workplace environments and highly technical, industrial, R &D and manufacturing facilities for leading companies worldwide. With the ability to manage large scale corporate and facilities projects, both nationally and internationally, the firm partners with its corporate clients to find solutions that address long-term business needs. With an experienced team of design experts, the firm merges efficiency, style and utility to address the clients workspace objectives.

# # #