OFFICE SPACE

Advertising firm Me&lewis designed its Vancouver headquarters to feel like a home

Advertising house Me&lewis wants employees to feel at home

Me&lewis Ideas Inc. is a Vancouver advertising agency with a twist, starting with its name. “Me&” is a play on Meehan, surname of creative strategist Paul Meehan, who cofounded the company in 2007 with senior creative director Jeff Lewis. The firm, whose clients range from Miller Brewing Co. and distillers William Grant & Sons Ltd. to Vancouver International Airport and White Spot Ltd., originally occupied a 100-year-old house in Kitsilano. “Eighty per cent of clients loved it, and 20 were like, `Oh, you're in a house,' and they didn't quite get it,” Meehan recalls.

Three years ago, Me&lewis purchased its current headquarters, a 10,000-squarefoot midcentury low-rise at the corner of Oak Street and Seventh Avenue in Fairview Slopes. Twenty-four of the 40 employees work there; the company also has offices in Toronto (in a renovated house) and London, England.

“The hard part was finding a space that kept that house feel and was a little different than moving into an office building or even just renting a space in Gastown,” says Meehan's wife, Melissa, who oversaw the building's renovation. “We really wanted to figure out how we make it not so quoteunquote office.”

Because the former textile warehouse is built into the hill and the ground floor is tenanted, the entrance to the second-floor Me&lewis office is off the lane. Just inside the door are the kitchen, bar and living room, with a row of desks next to the windows overlooking Oak Street. “In the old space there was the kitchen, and when it was small beginnings everyone would sit down for lunch, and we've really kept that tradition alive,” Melissa explains. “We tried to put the energy and effort into creating good bones and a comfortable atmosphere so we can host events, have parties and keep that home atmosphere.”

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