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OLAF GROWALD
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HON Desks raise and lower electronically, allowing employees to work while sitting or standing.
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A photo studio used for client photography
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The common area
It’s not unusual for Ardent Creative employees to take their laptops to the common area, sit back on the couch and turn on an episode of NBC’s “The Office” — while working, of course, and in some ways, living out the mantra written on the wall behind them: “Work to Live > Live to Work.”
It’s a concept that Ardent has carried since the beginning. When the design, development and digital marketing firm incorporated in 2005, co-owners David Canington and Brad Ball looked to create a company that provided an appropriate work/life balance, offering perks like half-day Fridays and time off to take care of family concerns.
“I came from a sales job … I made a lot of money, but I never got to see my wife,” Canington says. “We very much wanted to build a company that gave us the ability to watch our kids grow up and have the freedom to do the things that we want to do — but we want the same for our staff.”
So, it made sense to create an office space that felt like home. After moving from South Jennings Avenue, to Richland Hills, then South Main Street, Ardent finally settled at 707 West Vickery Blvd. last year. The building, owned by Churchill Properties co-owner Will Churchill, is also home to companies like Quorum Architects and Teach for America. Ardent’s space is 5,578 square feet, part of which is still a work in progress, as the company is building additional conference and office space slated to be finished by April.
The space’s design was the brainchild of Ball and Canington themselves; architect Windmiller Properties took Canington’s layout and created the CAD drawings for the city. The result? A space with a decidedly industrial vibe, with all the standards like exposed ventilation, rusted metal beams in the ceiling, brick fronting the interior and touches of wood throughout.
But then, there are reminders of home: The reception and common areas mimic a living room. Action figures, many of which are 1980s Transformers from Canington’s personal collection, are scattered throughout (Batman is listed as a staff member on the company’s website). The common area’s TV is equipped with Netflix, Apple TV and an Xbox — and employees come to play.
“[At] lunchtime, this is filled up with people, just talking about their days,” Canington says. “We want to create an office that develops a culture where everyone can come together, collaborate, work as a team and feel like a family.”
Stepping through the metal and glass doorway, one enters the reception area, where a vintage iMac sits atop the front desk. Canington’s mother found it at a garage sale for $20 — it still works, and Ardent uses it to sign in guests. Another old iMac can be found in adjacent reception area — a cozy space marked by a midcentury modern leather couch and fluffy gray rug. Set up against the wall is an art piece made by art director Anna Lossau, featuring cutouts of Fort Worth landmarks forming the Ardent Creative logo.
Past the reception area, Ardent’s workspace follows an open floor plan, separated by walls that stop short of the ceiling. Lighting plays a key role: Blue pendant lights illuminate the space, while string lights wind through the work area. Spotlights strategically point upward toward the ceiling to make the space feel bigger. Design and development departments mix and mingle — a drastic change from Ardent’s previous office on South Main, where four rooms kept each department separated.
“The overall goal is very much just to not be confined, to give a freedom of movement around the office,” Canington said.
While minimalist gray, black and white dominate the color palate, pops of blue, green and orange add life to the work area. School lockers sourced from schoollockers.com serve as storage space for employees.
Sliding wood doors divide the open work area from the solo offices and conference room. Two paintings, one of a white horse in the conference room and the other of Ardent’s logo in black and white just outside, are the handiwork of Ball himself, who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in painting and drawing from Texas Wesleyan University. He also did the owl and lion paintings in the office.
A small hallway leads to what will soon be more offices and conference space for Ardent. For now, it’s mostly used as a photo studio, as Ardent does product photography for clients.
But most of the fun happens in the central living area, where another gray shag rug lies beside a comfortable gray sectional sofa. Behind the sofa, a wooden bar table and barstools provide additional seating. The wall behind the TV doubles as a whiteboard.
It’s a mix of work and play that’s reflective of Ardent’s culture — comfortable, not stuffy, and all about bringing “as much fun as we can bring to [the] day-to-day,” Ball says.
But no matter how much Ardent’s office tries to mimic home, according to Canington, nothing beats the real thing.
“I believe that your life outside of work is more important than your life inside of work,” he says, “because if you have that together, then everything you do in your work life will be great.”