TBD Annual Beach Retreat

One area we are frequently asked to include in a typical corporate design project is a collaboration area to foster communication between corporate staff members. Many executives and managers add this room to their initial program request under the guise of providing a physical space to allow the natural team building that occurs between staff during down time. The trend over the last few years is to make these types of spaces relaxed, comfortable and flexible in structure as well as atmosphere.  These informal spaces become the hub of our clients’ offices and are shaped by their corporate culture.  

At TBD we’ve taken those initial moments of building interpersonal relationships to the next level, with an annual company weekend retreat.  Since our company is based in North Carolina we have the perfect destination for such an event, the Atlantic coast and its many pristine beaches.

This year we all headed to Oak Island for a weekend of leisure organized by Tina for the TBD staff, their spouses and children (ranging in age new babies to teens).  Similar to the teaming areas of the offices we design, the beach house’s relaxed living room and open kitchen became a hub of activity during the weekend.  After shared stories, communal meals, cups of coffee and cold glasses of wine plus an evening of board games we all returned home with much more than sandy feet and sun-kissed kids, but a better understanding of each other and shared stories to fuel our creativity.