Say what you want about Arthur Andersen LLP, the Big Five accounting firm that closed its Baltimore office last month after becoming embroiled in the Enron scandal, but its local partners sure had a flair for design.

Andersen's third-level office inside Baltimore's Power Plant was and still is one of the most dramatic, stimulating and superbly renovated workplaces in the city. From the day it opened in August 1999, it was an ideal symbol for Baltimore's "Digital Harbor" - a pioneering waterfront setting that combines the industrial ambience of the 19th century with the high-tech innovations of the 21st. "It's not your father's accounting firm," says architect Christopher Budd.

Andersen spent an estimated $4.5 million in "tenant improvements" designed to complement the space. Now it's up for grabs as part of an unusual agreement in which Andersen left the finished space almost completely intact, down to the Aeron chairs at the workstations and the cappuccino machines in the prep kitchen.

Andersen's loss will be another company's gain.

The Pier 4 Power Plant is a five-year-old shopping, entertainment and office complex perhaps best known as the home of ESPN Zone, Barnes & Noble and Hard Rock Cafe, with its rooftop guitar. Many visitors aren't even aware that its upper levels are filled with office tenants that want to be part of the "life center" taking shape around the Inner Harbor. These spaces are some of the most intriguing in the Power Plant, because they feature the sloped roofs, exposed trusses and other built-in artifacts that ground-level retail tenants don't have.

From the beginning, the Power Plant's developer, the Cordish Co., set out to create a different kind of office environment on Pier 4, an almost festive work setting that can handily accommodate any sort of business activity but also encourages employees to take full advantage of the leisure-oriented attractions around Baltimore's rejuvenated waterfront.

Andersen was a prime candidate, because its partners wanted a work setting that could both impress its more than 100 employees and be useful in recruiting and training new ones.

A keystone office

The Power Plant is a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, with spaces above and below each other in all three structures that made up the former power station. Andersen's office is the one that organizes it all, dividing the public-oriented retail spaces at wharf level from the private offices and health club above. It's also the only one that spans all buildings and features views in all directions.

Andersen benefited greatly from planning decisions made early on by Cordish and Design Collective of Baltimore, the architect that devised a master plan for subdividing the Power Plant. Those decisions included opening up the center building with windows to the outside; creating balconies overlooking Harborplace, and retaining the four giant smokestacks even though they occupy valuable space.

To create its work setting, Andersen hired the Washington office of Studios Architecture, a national firm that specializes in workplace design (and recently opened a Baltimore office at 1432 Light St.). Budd is an associate principal of Studios and strategic planner for the project. Tim Kearney was the project architect. His wife, Estie, was the workplace strategist and project designer. Esther Karpi was the project manager.

Working with Cordish, the designers opened the walls between the northernmost Power Plant building and the central building so one space flows into the other visually. They organized the office by creating an internal "Main Street" on the west side and an idealized Baltimore landscape on the east.

Studios also divided the office into three spaces that correspond roughly to the different buildings that make up the original Power Plant, which opened in 1900.

The space in the northernmost building contains a high-tech training center, including a 200-seat conference room and smaller meeting spaces. The center building is the social hub, with the reception area, kitchen, balcony and a limited number of work spaces. With informal meeting areas and open sight lines between workstations, it's designed to foster interaction.

The most unconventional space is in the southernmost building, above the Hard Rock Cafe. It has high ceilings with skylights and a large crane once used to transport coal. Andersen wanted most of its employees to work there, in an open-plan configuration with a few private offices. But Studios didn't want to put everyone in the same generic cubicle.

The architects' solution was to put workstations in groups of six and eight, with a shared power and data "spine" and overhead canopies that provide task lighting and sound control.

With their curving canopies and linear configuration, the workstations vaguely resemble trolley cars - a deliberate reference to the old-fashioned vehicles once powered by the generating station.

In all, the office has 110 open workstations, and 16 private offices. Except for support staffers and administrative assistants who came to the office every day, Andersen employees weren't assigned permanent work spaces. Instead, they used a computerized reservation system to sign up for an open or enclosed space on a daily basis, depending on their needs that day.

The result is a highly kinetic work setting that could take on a different configuration every day, depending on who's in the office and what they're working on. It's also very much in keeping with Cordish's idea of creating a richer and more engaging sort of workplace, one that's filled with natural light and gently reminds tenants of their Inner Harbor location.

"It's not about being stuck to the grindstone," Budd said. "It's about working in a pleasing environment and being part of the Inner Harbor.

"There were no rules for a space like this. It was designed to change as Arthur Andersen's model changed. That dynamic quality really makes the spaces what they are."

Ready for next client

The flexibility that Studios sought to build into Andersen's work setting ought to be especially handy now.

Blake Cordish, a Cordish Co. vice president, said his office has had strong interest from prospects, and he believes it could suit any number of companies looking for an Inner Harbor showplace. "It's a unique opportunity for the right tenant."

If it goes quickly, it will be a tribute to the thoughtful way Cordish has reinvigorated the Power Plant - by creating vibrant and functional spaces that can appeal to a wide range of users and then encouraging tenants to make the most of them. It will also validate the developer's decision to save one-of-a-kind elements such as the smokestacks.

In today's business climate, even prestigious tenants such as Arthur Andersen will come and go. Because of the creative designs made by Cordish and Studios, its former space remains as appealing as ever.