Read the full article right here, on corporatedesign.com!
It takes a surfer to know a surfer. So it’s hardly surprising that the Surfrider Foundation’s French chapter in Biarritz, France, would enlist an architect who is also a die-hard surfer to design its office space.
“I was sharing waves with an old friend of mine—the president of Surfrider France—when he told me they were looking for help,” says architect Patrice Gardera, principal of the Parisian architecture firm Gardera-D. He immediately rose to the challenge, not only because of his passion for surfing, but also because of his respect for the nonprofit foundation’s raison d’être.
Founded in 1984 by a group of visionary surfers in Malibu, California, the Surfrider Foundation’s mission is “the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves, and beaches through a powerful activist network.” It now shepherds more than 50,000 members and 90 chapters worldwide. The Surfrider Foundation Europe was founded in Biarritz in 1990, and the 70 employees of the French chapter, who had been working ad hoc in various locations, including garages, were sorely in need of a unified place to conduct their business.