Margulies & Associates completes interior renovations for Metabolix office space

Margulies & Associates has completed design of 14,000 s/f of office space for bioscience company Metabolix, Inc. The new office will house the sales and marketing headquarters of Mirel, a new brand of biobased plastics that are eco-friendly. Metabolix's has formed a joint venture with Archer Daniels Midland Co. to manufacture, market and sell Mirel. Margulies & Assoc. converted office space into a laboratory for the testing of the company's products. To reflect the company's eco-friendly philosophy, the color scheme is natural and the systems furniture, seating, and conference table are all GreenGuard Certified, a program for specifying low-emitting furniture for sustainable building programs. The reception area has banners outlining the qualities of biobased plastics and a graphic with the life cycle of the plastic. "Working with a newly public company that is poised for enormous growth posed unique design challenges," said Marc Margulies, AIA, principal of Margulies & Assoc. "Metabolix is carefully focusing its expenditures on research and development so we were sensitive to cost issues and designed a space with maximum flexibility to support future expansion."