Digital agency Thinkingbox keeps it local at its new Gastown head office

ACTION CENTRAL | Thinkingbox’s Vancouver office is on West Hastings in the heart of Gastown

WHERE THE ART IS | The company’s graphic designers put their talent to work decorating the walls

CLEAR PRESENATION | Board rooms have glass doors or walls to maintain the open feel and flow

GAME ON | Staff have lots of toys to play with, from Xbox, Nintendo and PlayStation to table tennis and foosball

SIT, STAY | Lounge areas throughout the office are used both for work discussions and relaxing

When fast-growing digital agency Thinkingbox needed more space, they didn’t stray far from their roots 

Since launching in Vancouver five years ago, Thinkingbox, a digital production agency, has opened offices in Toronto and L.A. and relocated headquarters to bigger digs in Gastown. Founder Amir Sahba attributes the company’s rapid growth to its policy of not outsourcing work. “A lot of shops use freelancers and contractors to manage the workload regardless of the amount of work,” he says. “We want to approach it as a business where we have full-time staff so our clients can count on the reliability. They can come back to us again and again and know that the same individuals are working on their accounts.”

Staying in Gastown was critical when Sahba started searching for new head office space. “We have grown as a company with that neighbourhood and we want to continue,” he says. Thinkingbox also continued with particleboard desks. “We built our original desks in a cost-effective way, but they’re sturdy. When we moved to our new office we wanted to kind of carry that ‘heritage’ with us.”

The 10,000-square-foot space occupies two floors above a record store on West Hastings. “We are growing fast so we are already somewhat pushing the limit of the space, but we have been very lucky to be able to lay it out in a form that creates a very collaborative environment not only within the teams but in the company as a whole,” says Sahba. The developers are on one floor, with the animation and creative department on the other where they can work closely with strategists and project managers. The same level houses administration, graphic designers and user experience designers. A full lab accommodates electrical work from soldering to working on live activations done in-house, plus there is a kitchen, bike storage and spots to play games, chat or just chill.