New Tandem HQ Follows Circadian Rhythms

When Tandem Diabetes was consolidating six scattered offices and labs into a single headquarters building, the company wanted a new look that would better reflect the company’s emphasis on healthy and balanced lifestyles.

“We’re very focused on health and well-being for our employees as well as our customers,” said Nichole Alvarado, Tandem supervisor of corporate space planning and facilities.

Tandem, which makes diabetes pumps, took over four floors of a five-story building at 12400 High Bluff Drive – 127,647 square feet – with the possibility of later expanding to include the top floor.

The company’s manufacturing operations have remained at a separate site in Miramar.

The architect for the new headquarters, ID Studios based in Solana Beach, centered much of the design of the new building around the circadian rhythm of human beings – the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle that responds to light and dark.

The result was a balance of what Maegan Curry, associate principal of ID Studios, and Deborah Elliott, ID Studios president and founding design principal, described as a mix of collaboration zones, heads-down zones, and recharge zones.

Collaboration zones are, as the term implies, conference rooms and other places where people can work together.

Heads-down zones are more private places where people can work quietly by themselves, and recharge zones are places where people can step aside from their work and take a break.

As part of the emphasis on circadian rhythm, the colors inside the new offices shift from one area to the next, depending on what the areas are used for, moving from blues to afternoon yellows, ending with soothing neutrals with the company’s brand colors – light blue and off-white -incorporated through the building, according to Curry.

There are no private offices in keeping with the company’s philosophy of creating a culture of connection, Alvarado said.

Everyone shares an open workspace and can move among different types of work areas throughout the day, Alvarado said, adding that the company has adopted a hybrid work model.

Those who want it can have a permanent desk assigned to them and others can reserve space as they need it, Alvarado said.

Depending on their job, workers come to the office two to three days a week and work from home the rest of the time.

There are 53 conference rooms, eight huddle rooms that have space for two people to use, single-person booths, six break rooms spread throughout the building, labs, and an indoor auditorium.

“There are little hidden spaces for people to go sit if they need some time alone at different times of the day,” Alvarado said.

A Fun Place

Because of the open design, the interior is flooded with daylight “so everyone in a workstation has access to natural light,” Elliott said.

There’s also a strong emphasis on technology.

“Any space that someone can go into, any of the huddle rooms, the conference rooms, the collaboration aeras, every one of them has a TV monitor to plug into and do video conferencing if required,” Elliott said. “They also have technology where if you write on a white board, there’s a camera filming the white board so if someone is joining virtually, they can see what’s happening on the white board.”

Nine local artists painted murals and created digital art throughout the building, including a Lego wall that has a model of a diabetes pump made of Legos with bins of Lego blocks beside it that people can make their own Lego installation affixed to the wall.

Tandem wanted the new offices to have a “wow factor” that would encourage people to return to the offices post-COVID with things that they wouldn’t have working from home, Alvarado said.

They include a café on the first floor, places for people to just hang out, an outdoor patio, and a genius bar where people can mingle while consulting.

With the help of ID Studios, Tandem started looking for a site in 2019 for what Alvarado said would be “a true headquarters.”

“It was really to get everyone together so we could feel more like a team,” Alvarado said. “Obviously, with COVID, it kind of took a back burner.”

The search for new space resumed in 2021 and concluded earlier this year when Tandem moved into its new headquarters.

“Seeing how far we’ve come is really amazing,” Alvarado said. “It’s just a really, really fun place to come to work.”

ID Studios, Inc.

Founded:  2005
Principals:  Deborah Elliott, Amy Morway, Jill Russel-Layman, Rich Guerena
Headquarters:  Solana Beach
Business:  design and architecture
Website:  www.idstudiosinc.com
Contact: 858-523-9836
Notable: 18 years in interior design, architecture and strategic planning as a woman owned business.