The team at photography app VSCO have moved into their new digs, inside one of downtown Oakland’s last remaining historic buildings.

DeBartolo Architects designed the space, stripping down its interiors and creating an office without any partitions to encourage openness and transparency. There are no private offices and even the glass conference room is positioned in the centre, in plain view of workers and visitors.

‘We took the building back to basically structural wood and concrete and glass,’ says architect Jack DeBartolo. ‘By doing that, it really exposed the structure, the heart, the bones – if you will – of this building.’

Additions were deliberately kept to a minimum. ‘It was very obvious that whatever we put back in the space had a higher level of importance to it,’ adds DeBartolo.

Among the few insertions ­– besides workspaces – are chairs and tables in shared communal areas for both workers and visitors.

Other tech firms, including Uber, will soon be joining VSCO in downtown Oakland, marking a change in landscape for an area that has been dominated by government and health workers.