The Creative Workplace explores the spaces where bright ideas grow
![Selgascano's subterranean office exterior view](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LiHpmGBxPHJgSKQjQgPwWj-415-80.jpg)
When it came to the ideal creative workplace, we previously imagined a happy communion of the personal and the professional that challenged, ignited and engaged our curiosity (see W*173). Kindling a radical type of office design, Silicon Valley’s freethinkers have conjured veritable Wonderlands of Lego play stations, sleep pods, yoga studios, slides and even woodworking shops. As creative spheres evolve, so too have the environments that foster them.
Launched by ROADS Publishing this week, The Creative Workplace explores caverns of creativity across the globe where bright ideas are born. Editor Rob Alderson writes in the book’s foreword, ‘We continue to be fascinated by that triangular relationship between the creative, their work and their space, poring over the evidence to try to untangle how each factor affects the others.’ To wit, the tome brings together a collection of over 50 offices as architecturally diverse as the firms that inhabit them.
Some are impressive for their settings alone. Barcelona-based studio Ricardo Bofill Taller de Aquitectura is situated within a former cement factory, a striking Brutalist structure on the outskirts of the city. Elsewhere, in Paris, Ekimetrics created a ‘sub-space in raw wood’ within a 19th century classé palace with golden mouldings and frescoed; while Singaporean firm Park + Associates’ offices are located in a former school compound (specifically on the site of previous library hall) and takes advantage of a column–free space crowned by a series of barrel vaults.
Other firms have had to be more inventive with their bureaus. Digital and advertising agency Barbarian Group’s workplace spans a mammoth 7,000 sq m loft in New York’s garment district. Its centrepiece is a 134m-long, undulating desk that snakes around the space with grotto-like spaces underneath the ‘arches’ designed to accommodate meetings. And it’s not always a case of the bigger equating the bolder – Belgium outfit Five AM has gone mobile in a small but perfectly formed, renovated caravan.
If there’s one thing to take away from The Creative Workplace – other than a debilitating case of office envy – is that unconventional is becoming the new normal.
Designed by X + L Architects, Random Studio’s office is sited in Amsterdam. ‘The indoor garden, the mirror monolith, and the bags filled with plants hanging from the ceiling give the space an edge,’ say the firm. ‘The whole studio feels alive, always changing.'
Digital advertising agency Barbarian Group leased a 7,000 sq m loft in the New York garment district to house 125-175 Barbarians, which was surgically gutted to create a large open space. The centrepiece is a 134-metre-long ‘superdesk’ that snakes around the office...
...with grotto-like spaces underneath the ‘arches’, designed to accomodate meetings, bookshelves, storage and focused workspaces.
Japanese architectural firm Mamiya Shinichi Design Studio, located in suburban Nagoya, was inspired by the notion of a safari park when it came to designing its multi-layered office space.
Having moved out of a typical office building, Park + Associates were searching for a new space that would not just accommodate their expansion but also reflect the philosophy of their creative pursuits.
The architects’ office today occupies the mezzanine level of an old school building in Singapore’s River Valley enclave.
The firm's workspace is located where the old library hall used to be. Situated at the highest part of the building, it contains an expanse of column- free space crowned by a series of barrel vaults.
Casa Rex is a design brand with a main office in São Paulo (pictured) and a base in London. ‘The [office] concept was to explore a combination of rough and raw materials – from the house’s façade, built up from modular metal frames filled with rocks, to the bannisters made from construction sewer pipes,’ say the company.
Ekimetrics’ Paris office was completed in 2014 and is housed inside a nineteenth-century classé palace with golden mouldings and frescoed ceilings.
Spanning over 1,000 sq m and featuring five-metre-high-ceilings, the setting gave Vincent & Gloria Architectes to create sub-spaces in raw wood.
A third-generation family business, Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectur is located in a former cement factory on the outskirts of Barcelona.
Richard Bofill explains: 'Seduced by the contradictions and the ambiguity of the place, I decided to retain the factory and, modifying its original brutality, sculpt it like a work of art. It is for me the only place where I can concentrate, associate ideas in the most abstract manner, and finally, create projects, images and new spaces, and constitute a specific vocabulary for our architecture.'
'The Cement Factory is a place of work par excellence,' he adds. 'Life goes on here with very little di erence between work and leisure.'
Stochkholm-based MER explains of its minimalist workplace: ’Our office is a creative workshop and the concept is built around “exhibition”.’ Eye-catching features include the paper cube (pictured) and the polished steel room divider.
INFORMATION
Published by ROADS Publishing, £25. For more information, visit the website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
‘A Time ⋅ A Place’ is a lovingly compiled photographic portrait of cars and architecture
‘A Time ⋅ A Place’ is a celebration of the European Car of the Year and changing perceptions of modern design, pairing the best buildings of the age with their automotive contemporaries
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Álvaro Siza’s new monograph through the lens of Duccio Malagamba is impactful and immersive
Álvaro Siza and photographer Duccio Malagamba collaborate on a new monograph by Phaidon; ‘Before / After: Álvaro Siza Duccio Malagamba’ celebrates the Portuguese architect's work
By Michael Webb Published
-
Marcio Kogan’s Studio MK27 celebrated in this new monograph from Rizzoli
‘The Architecture of Studio MK27. Lights, camera, action’ is a richly illustrated journey through the evolution of this famed Brazilian architecture studio
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
‘Interior sculptor’ Christophe Gevers’ oeuvre is celebrated in new book
‘Christophe Gevers’ is a sleek monograph dedicated to the Belgian's life work as an interior architect, designer, sculptor and inventor, with unseen photography by Jean-Pierre Gabriel
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Flick through ‘Brutal Wales’, a book celebrating concrete architecture
‘Brutal Wales’ book zooms into a selection of concrete Welsh architecture treasures through the lens of photographer Simon Phipps
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Architecture books to inspire shelf love
Here at Wallpaper*, we’ve got architecture books piling up; among them, these are the photographic tomes, architects’ monographs and limited editions that we couldn’t resist
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Pioneering modernist Henry Kulka's life and career tracked in limited-edition monograph
Czech-New Zealand architect Henry Kulka, a man who spread modernist ideals half way around the world, is celebrated in Giles Reid and Mary Gaudin’s richly illustrated monograph
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Nordic architecture explored in Share, a book about contemporary building
Discussions about Nordic architecture and contemporary practice meet in a new book by Artifice, Share: Conversations about Contemporary Architecture – The Nordic Countries
By Ellie Stathaki Published