By our design & construction desk

A fresh set of plans is making the rounds in local development circles this week: Plan C-2171, a compact, two-story office building by Building Designs by Stockton. The drawing shows a crisp street façade with a corner tower sign (“Village Office Building”), long porch shading the ground-floor windows, and a second-story band of offices above. It’s the kind of small-business hub you’d expect at the edge of a town center—polished enough for clients, practical enough for day-to-day work.

Here’s the what, why, and how, explained like a technician but in plain language—and then a step-by-step walk-through so you can picture exactly how this building functions.

Quick specs (so you can sanity-check the scale)

• Overall size: 74’ wide x 34’ deep (porches included)
• Total area: ≈ 3,822 sq. ft. for both floors combined
• Stories: 2, with a two-story foyer/lobby at the stair
• Use: Multi-tenant or single-company office
• Key rooms: Reception, large conference rooms on each floor, multiple private offices, open office areas, lunch room (1st floor), restrooms on both levels, storage, covered front porch

These numbers tell us it’s substantial but not sprawling—think professional services (accounting, legal, design studio, real estate, clinic admin) or a multi-suite co-working setup.

The “why” behind the layout (technical but simple)

• Efficiency first: A 34’ depth is a sweet spot. It fits a central corridor with offices along the exterior walls, allowing every workspace to catch daylight from those long window lines.
• Client flow vs. staff flow: The reception and ground-floor conference room sit near the main entrance so visitors don’t wander the whole building. Staff can peel off to the open office or private rooms behind the scenes.
• Scalability: Duplicate program upstairs—conference, offices, and an open office area—lets an owner rent by floor or assign departments cleanly.
• Cost control clues: A simple rectangular footprint, stacked plumbing (restrooms above restrooms), and a single primary stair keep construction straightforward.

Step-by-step: from the street to your desk

Think of this like a guided site tour.

1) Approach & arrival

You roll up to a two-story building with a covered porch running across the street face. This porch does three jobs: it gives weather protection, shades the glass for energy savings, and sets a welcoming, walkable vibe. The corner tower element stands taller with signage—useful for wayfinding and that “we’re open for business” punch.

2) Entering through reception

Step through the front door and you’re in the reception zone on the first floor. It’s placed immediately to the right of the stair and the two-story foyer/lobby. Design-wise, this is smart: the tall volume makes a strong first impression, and the reception desk keeps eyes on the entry.

Technical note: The stair and lobby being central reduce travel distances to any point in the plan and are great for egress (meeting code for safe exit routes).

3) Client meeting path (short and sweet)

From reception, clients can be walked a few steps into the ground-floor conference room (labeled 16’5″ x 12’10” on the plan). It’s close enough that visitors never need to see back-office areas. That separation equals privacy for staff and polish for guests.

4) Day-to-day work zones on the first floor

Past the public face, the first floor opens into a run of private offices—handy for managers, phone-heavy roles, or confidential work. At mid-plan is a larger open office area (≈ 14’9″ x 13’8″), the natural home for shared desks, collaboration tables, or a bullpen. Because it sits along the exterior wall, you can pack people here without starving them of daylight.

5) Support spaces where you need them

Toward the left-rear block you’ll find restrooms and a dedicated lunch room (also labeled with dimensions on the drawing). Keeping plumbing grouped like this simplifies mechanical runs (less pipe, fewer vertical stacks) and makes maintenance cheaper. The lunch room’s proximity to the offices means faster breaks; its door placement avoids food smells drifting into the reception area.

6) Going upstairs

Take the central stair—tucked beside the two-story lobby—and you pop out onto the second floor corridor. Stair and lobby locations are mirrored to make the building intuitive: where you land is where you’d expect.

7) Second floor: repeatable, rentable, flexible

The second-floor plan echoes the first: a conference room to host meetings up here too, plus a set of private offices and another open office area (≈ 14’9″ x 13’8″ again). There’s storage near the stair and restrooms stacked directly above the ones below (again: efficient plumbing). This makes the second floor a turnkey separate suite if you want to lease it, or an easy departmental home if you’re one company.

8) Circulation & clarity

Both floors show a clean central corridor with doors into offices that face the windows. The corridor minimizes dead ends, which is good for life-safety egress and for simple wayfinding. It also means every office can have exterior views—employee satisfaction hack 101.

9) Dimensions that drive furniture layouts

The private offices are consistently sized (examples labeled 10’0″ x 11’2″, 9’0″ x 12’10”, 12’0″ x 13’8″). Translation for fit-out:

• A 10′ x 11′ can handle a standard desk, guest chair, lateral file, and a small round table.
• A 9′ x 12’10” is narrow-deep—ideal for a desk at the window with storage along a sidewall.
• The 12′ x 13’8″ corner offices are leadership-friendly without feeling oversized.

The conference rooms at ~16′ x 13′ comfortably seat 8–10 around a table with perimeter credenzas or a wall display. The open office areas can fit 6–10 workstations depending on benching vs. cubicles.

10) Code & comfort (practical checkpoints)

• Light & views: Long window bands on both levels equal generous daylight—plan for blinds and task lighting to control glare on monitors.
• Acoustics: Put soft finishes (carpet tiles, acoustic ceiling tiles) in open areas; consider solid core doors for private offices near conference rooms.
• HVAC zoning: Split each floor at least into front/back or open/private zones; meeting rooms need extra supply and a boost-mode for full occupancy.
• Accessibility: The plan shows a stair and two-story lobby; a compliant build will require an elevator (or a platform lift) for public access to the second floor. Plan your machine room or choose a machine-room-less unit to protect rentable area.

What the exterior says about the interior

The elevation hints at board-and-batten or panelized siding above a masonry base, with regularly spaced windows and an extended porch roof. That rhythm outside matches the rhythm of offices inside—each window likely aligns to a workstation or a private office bay. The tower sign gives the building a landmark corner; expect the main door just to the side, sheltered by the porch.

How a tenant might set this up (two scenarios)

1. Single-company HQ (≈ 25–35 staff):
   • Ground floor: Reception, admin open office, 3–4 private offices, shared conference, copy/print near lunch room.
   • Second floor: Leadership offices along the perimeter, project teams in the open office area, second conference for internal meetings, storage for IT or records.
2. Two-tenant building:
   • Suite A (1st floor): 1 conference + 5–6 offices + open bullpen + shared lunch/restrooms.
   • Suite B (2nd floor): Mirrored kit with independent conference and restrooms.
     Shared main entry works because visitors land at reception before being guided up.

What happens next (the development playbook)

• Schematic → Design Development: Lock furniture counts and low-voltage needs (data drops, Wi-Fi, AV).
• Permitting: Confirm local parking ratios and accessibility requirements (elevator placement).
• Bidding: The rectangular footprint and stacked systems should produce competitive bids.
• Build-out: Standard materials—LVT or carpet tile, painted gypsum, acoustic ceilings—will keep costs predictable.
• Move-in: Because rooms are right-sized, tenants can reuse existing desks; only the open office zones may need new benching to optimize headcount.

Bottom line

Plan C-2171 is a workhorse: compact, bright, and highly rentable. At 74’ x 34’ and ≈3,822 sq. ft., it threads the needle between boutique charm and practical density. The two-story foyer creates a memorable arrival, the paired conference rooms keep client traffic controlled, and the mix of private and open areas supports today’s hybrid work patterns. If you’re a growing firm—or a developer courting multiple professional tenants—this plan earns a serious look.