Office design: the latest trends in workspace architecture

Architecture | 3 days ago

Whether we are currently in the office or not, corporate identity is expressed through workspace design. For your home office, draw inspiration from the latest design trends and evolving ideas across the realm of office design. Work it.

minimalist office space in The Smithson Tower in London

Smithson Tower office, UK

ConForm Architects

Central London is chock-full of iconic architecture, but few buildings represent the brutalist style better than the iconic Smithson Tower – previously known as the Economist Building – which was designed in the early 1960s by Alison and Peter Smithson. Now, this piece of Grade II* listed modernist architecture includes a brand new warm and minimalist office interior, courtesy of ConForm Architects. Sat on the high rise’s 11th floor and occupied by a financial client, the workspace is sleek and contemporary but at the same time, the minimalist architecturefeels homely and inviting, creating a comfortable, almost domestic working environment. The open floorplan adds to the steamlined look and directs the gaze towards the long views of the London skyline afforded by the windows. ‘The design responds to the contemporary move towards designing offices that are collaborative rather than cellular,’ explain the architects. Photography: Lorenzo Zandri

office building 545wyn's colourful exterior

545wyn, USA

Gensler

545wyn in Miami is a modern office building by global architecture practice Gensler. Celebrating the city and the community of Wynwood, where the project is located, the design team incorporated colourful architecture, murals and installations - a nod to the garment district’s heritage of warehouses and graffiti art. ‘545wyn delivers an expressive backdrop to the community, uniting all that surrounds as a beacon of creativity,’ say the architects. Photography: Kendall McCaugherty, design by Gensler

Signify Health, USA

Perkins & Will

Perkins & Will has created the home of healthcare platform Signify Health in Dallas, Texas. Following their client’s values around ‘happy, healthy days at home,’ the architects designed an office architecture that blends technology and wellness. High ceilings, large openings and plenty of light offer a sense of space and generosity. Meanwhile, ‘The design team equipped the flexible office with collaborative work areas dispersed with meeting and breakout rooms to form “workplace neighborhoods.” The intention here was to create transparency and accessibility, similar to a “living organism,” thereby tying the design theme back to healthcare and the company’s dedication to well-being,’ the team explains. Photography: Peter Molick

The Mill Project, India

Quirk Studio

Mumbai interior design studio Quirk, lead by Disha Bhavsar and Shivani Ajmera, are behind this office space in the city of Erode, Tamil Nadu. The interior is the headquarters of a family-run enterprise. Aiming for a luxurious but also functional workspace environment, the design team mixed the principles of Wabi-Sabi with mid-century modern’s timeless design style. A blank industrial canvas of raw materials, such as concrete and wood, is overlayed with contemporary furniture inspired in clean, modernist-inspired shapes. Photography: Kuber Shah

colourful workspace for Choose offices, Athens

Choose, Greece

dARCHstudio

An advertising office in Athens has been transformed into a minimalist, geometric, colourful composition by dARCHstudio. ‘Custom-made red objects - conceptualised as “totems”, which consist of a metal dividing mesh and shelves with flowerpots, are an integral part of the design, placed in strategic positions throughout the officespace. Each consists of a different synthesis of plants and mesh alluding to the beauty of the plants and an earthy sensation,’ say the architects. Photography: Vassilis Makris

Berlin's UP! office is in a redesigned former shopping mall with a stepped glazed facade

UP!, Germany

Jasper Architects

International architect Martin Jasper has completed UP!, a workspace in East Berlin, which creatively reuses a former shopping mall. The redesign, which is situated in the city’s Friedrichshain neighborhood, houses offices and some retail within a new, glazed envelope. The architect, who has worked a lot in Argentina, drew inspiration from the blocks of Buenos Aires. ‘The existing building looked like a monolithic extrusion of a city block there’, he says. Photography: HG Esch

this office in Copenhagen combines colour and a raw appearance

Copenhagen office, Denmark

NORRØN Architects

A former textile warehouse in Copenhagen has been transformed into a ’territory for dreaming’. The office space has been designed by locally based NORRØN Architects. The use of raw materials, colourful architecture and reflected light enhance the space and add character. Detailing was also very important. For example, ‘a dark shiny green color was chosen in different sections of the office to add a certain depth to the architecture of the space, as seen both at the entrance and the furniture of the office,’ says the team. Photography: Simon Baungaard

tadao undo's latest office design is in Germany

Weisenburger HQ, Germany

Tadao Ando

The new construction and developent company headquarters in Karlsruhe for the weisenburger group has been designed by none other than celebrated famous Pritzker Prize winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Following its creator’s signature style, the office features concrete and glass surfaces and a facade arranged in a neat grid. ‘The building is effective in its simplicity. Concrete plays a key role as our main building material. Reducing it to the essentials is simultaneously reflected in top efficiency. For us, straight lines and pragmatism are key,’ says the client’s managing director Nicolai Weisenburger. Photography: HG Esch

JTBC HQ, South Korea

THE_SYSTEM LAB

JTBC, the largest media company in South Korea, now has a new contemporary headquarters to suite their reputation, courtesy of local architecture studio THE_SYSTEM LAB. Internal flexibility was the name of the game here. ‘We felt that the rapidly changing media environment doesn’t allow us to build a confirmed space with fixed programmes. We also had to consider 3 year time gap between the time we started the design and the time the construction would be completed. Therefore, we decided to build a physical infrastructure that could contain an agile process,’ say the architects.

The Column Group, USA

Garcia Tamjidi Architecture Design

When a venture capital firm in San Francisco asked Garcia Tamjidi Architecture Design for a new office space that is both calm and open, the architects responded by creating a sleek, minimalist interior using transparencies and neutral colours to create flow and a sense of space. At the same time, ‘Japanese-influenced rock and gravel gardens subtly define individuated spaces and create circulation between the public and private work areas,’ explains the team. Photography: Joe Fletcher

Block722 studio, Greece

Block722

A refined workspace created by architecture studio Block722 for their own use, this Athenian interior makes the most of an existing office unit and long views of nature and ancient ruins in the heart of the Greek capital. By gutting the space to rebuild a flowing, open interior that fosters collaboration, the architects created generous, light filled spaces. Calming colour tones, natural materials and a sense of balance prevail. Artworks and craft-led bespoke items, such as pieces by Greek contemporary artist Pantelis Chandris, local artisan Serpetinis, a fabric woven by Athens based textile artist Chrysa Georgiou and sculptural pieces by French artist Benoît Averly, enrich the daily experience of working there for the some-30 staff. Photography: Giorgos Sfakianakis

Citi Wealth Hub, Singapore

Ministry of Design

Created as offices and centre for Citigold members and private clients, this banking hub in Singapore is the brainchild of local studio Ministry of Design. Set in an existing building that has been transformed, the new space is an immersive experience, wrapped in greenery and striking city views. A generous, glass-enclosed atrium features a thriving indoor conservatory, which becomes the perfect space to meet people, relax but also host events and presentations. Specially designed pods within it, clad in Kvadrat Remix 3 fabric panels, Aural Aid veneer panels, and kitted out with curved LG OLED TV screens, provide a more private option for work and discussion. Photography: KHOOGJ

100 Liverpool St, UK

Universal Design Studios

The interior design of parts of a Hopkins Architects building in the City of London, this project, by Universal Design Studios, tackles the entrance lobbies and the second floor lobby, main reception, café, informal meeting and flexible
work areas. ‘Universal’s focus for the lobby areas was to create active and usable spaces which are inviting and encourage dwelling, as such a range of seating and furniture is used throughout to accommodate different modes of working from informal meetings and focussed work to team collaboration,’ say the designers. The project includes a striking, colourful, ceramic art piece by Lubna Chowdary in the ground level entrance lobby. Photography: Charles Hosea

Community Information Centre, USA

Efficiency Lab for Architecture

This some-10,000 sq ft office space is an example of clever adaptive reuse in San Jose, California. The design, for the Community Information Center by Brooklyn practice Efficiency Lab for Architecture, forms part of a larger development project that will transform an existing office park into a learning campus. This centre, the first phase of this ambitious project, acts as an information hub and contains a reception/lounge area, an 80-person presentation room, meeting rooms, interview rooms, and staff offices, all within a modern, open plan design. Photography: Blake Marvin

Office in Paris, France

Louis Denavaut

Interior architect and designer Louis Denavaut has turned his hand to almost anything from retail, to residential and art spaces. His latest work, an office interior in Paris’ Matignon neighbourhood, responds to a brief that dictated the combination of ‘cutting-edge technology with contemporary aesthetics.’ Set in an existing, period building with an empty floorplate and large windows, Denavaut’s space mixes warm woods, geometric compositions, careful lighting and linen curtains to convey domesticity and comfort, while maintaining sharp, modern lines and materials. Photography: Depasquale+Maffini

Runxuan Textile Office, China

Lucien International, Masanori Designs

Sometimes building designs take their visual cues from what’s going on inside them. This was the case with a new textile company’s headquarters in Zhangcha, the well known fabrics producing urban hub in Foshan, China. Designed by Lucien International - Masanori Designs, the new building combines pure white tones with an undulating facade that mimics the movement of textile. With the curved tile facade dominating the first floor, where offices are, the ground level is left clean and simple, visible from the street through large glazed expanses. Minimalist white office furniture within blends effortlessly with the similarly pared down architectural features. Photography: Yun Ouyang

Publicis Groupe, USA

Elkus Manfredi Architects

Created as an ‘activity-based’ workspace, the brand new Publicis Groupe offices are designed by Boston based Elkus Manfredi Architects. The international communications company needed space for its some 1,500 employees in the city. The architects consulted the users in co-creating the space in a process that touched upon anything from furniture, culture and work settings. The office now occupies five restored historic buildings, topped with a modern glass addition. Interiors feel bright, flexible and contemporary. Photography: Eric Laignel

Wotton Works, UK

Simeon Anderson, Caireen O’Hagan, Corinne Quin

A new, sustainably minded office space has just opened up in London, in a relatively unlikely place - the northern neighbourhood of Cricklewood. Created by Simeon Anderson with the help of ex-Ilse Crawford studio designers Caireen O’Hagan and Corinne Quin, Wotton Works is a live/work complex set in a former aircraft parts factory. Its vast size - a lovely feature inherited from the building’s past industrial use - meant the designers could fit flexible office space alongside residential units. This brand new hub is just a 15 mins train ride from central London.

Studio Anton Hendrik Denys's AEtelier office building in Belgium's industrial zone

AEtelier, Belgium

Studio Anton Hendrik Denys, with Steen Architecten

Combining the region’s industrial heritage with a wild, green garden, this office building is a refreshing piece of architecture that brings together clever, sharp contemporary design and nature. The project, designed by local designer Studio Anton Hendrik Denys in collaboration with Steen Architecten houses an IT consultancy’s headquarters. The brief outlined the refresh of an existing structure in an industrial zone in central Belgium. The architects obliged, stripping away the original building and transforming it using softly reflective, undulating, silver-coloured aluminium panels. A lush garden complements the architecture through contrast. Photography: Hannelore Veelaert

Work & Co, Copenhagen, Denmark

Aspekt Office

Creating a space where ‘employees can feel at home’ was a top priority in this office interior redesign by Danish multidisciplinary studio Aspekt Office. The space, for digital company Work & Co, is situated in a century-old building in the Danish capital’s historic city centre. The designers brought the interior into the 21st century by working with its bare bones and layering natural materials, sharp, contemporary lines and a Scandinavian sensibility. Features range from communal meeting areas to private booths and a generous, shared kitchen. Oak wood and soft textiles take centre stage to wrap this inviting interior in homely comfort. Photography: Rasmus Dengsø

No 31, Shanghai, China

Neri&Hu

Neri&Hu and Design Republic’s new home is an imaginative, adaptive reuse of an existing commercial building in Shanghai. The famed Chinese architecture and design office is an expert at bringing existing architecture back to life, having done so with its previous locations. Its latest base sits within a small complex of ex-industrial buildings in the bustling Jing’an Temple area. Avoiding major structural alterations, the team reworked proportions and treatments, adding key elements inside and out, such as glass-brick surfaces and a black metal window frame. As a result, the exterior feels sophisticated and updated. Inside, the existing concrete post and beam frame was left intact and exposed, creating a rough, industrial feel. Sleek, modern ‘pods’ were added within where necessary to create different types of space, such as meeting areas. Photography: Hao Chen, Fangfang Tian

22 Handyside Street, London, UK

Coffey Architects

The latest addition at London’s King’s Cross area is an angular office building by Coffey Architects. The structure sits at 22 Handyside Street and is a luminous and generous 36,000 sq ft building; yet its cleverly composed form and broken-down volumes and façade articulation make it feel boutique. These elements were designed to follow the movement of the sun throughout the day. The eco-conscious office design now aims for BREEAM Outstanding certification. The three-storey building is a lightweight concrete and steel composition featuring large windows. The façade also includes surfaces of embossed and perforated anodised aluminium panels that create a translucent effect, adding colour and texture. Photography: Tim Soar

the office and showroom for Maruhon in Fukuoka is a curved wooden structure

Maruhon, Fukuoka, Japan

Takenori Katori / Katori archi+design associates

Maruhon, a Japanese manufacturer of natural wood for interiors, has just unveiled its latest office and showroom, designed by architect Takenori Katori and his Tokyo-based team. The project, located in a verdant part of the city of Fukuoka, makes the most of its client’s expertise to create a fascinating timber structure that elegantly showcases what wood construction can achieve. Inside, working with skilled, experienced carpenters, the architect composed a striking, double-height library displaying over 400 sample boards. A two-storey atrium at the building’s heart helps the users orientate themselves and leads to the various parts of the boutique, 70 sq m structure. The exterior is clad in Japanese cedar planks that have been stained with natural plant dyes. The sensitive design recieved full certification from the Forest Stewardship Council. Photography: Loop Photo Creative /Hiroshi Mizusaki,goto photo office/Akito Goto

The Panagram, London, UK

Buckley Gray Yeoman

A glazed front leads to an unexpected colourful reception area in this renovation of a tired 1980s office interior in London’s Clerkenwell. Designed by architects Buckley Gray Yeoman, The Panagram is a workspace interior that was conceived to offer a twist to conventional office design. Here, graphic tile grids and brightly painted architectural elements (such as the primary yellow column in the entrance foyer) meet colourful lifts and curtains, terrazzo, bespoke quirky wooden details and lots of planting. Different zones within the building (for instance, private versus communal, co-working versus quiet areas) are clearly marked by differences in colour or material. There is even a highly customised wooden staircase with a tree growing out of it. Photography: Jack Hobhouse

snohetta's le monde office building in Paris is an ultra-sustainable undulating structure

Le Monde Group HQ, Paris, France

Snøhetta

Bringing the 1,600 or so employees of Le Monde Group under a single roof, this new headquarters in Paris was designed by celebrated international architects Snøhetta. The bold, architecturally dynamic building is defined by its sleek façade (made of 20,000 pixelated glass elements) and undulating form that brings to mind an abstract bridge, creating a new plaza underneath it. While improving urban connections around it and adding to the public space, the structure is also sustainably minded, ensuring maximum natural ventilation and lighting is possible. Inside, it includes all-mod-cons needed for a 21st-century office, such as flexible workspace and break areas for staff, two auditoriums, and a planted roof terrace. Photography: Marwan Harmouche

thonik office in amsterdam has a stripy facade

Thonik HQ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Thonik, MMX Architects

Graphic design studio Thonik has unveiled a new, custom-made office building in Amsterdam, created in collaboration with MMX Architects. The result is a highly graphic six-storey building on the city centre’s only post-war urban boulevard – the Wibautstraat. Three floors are dedicated to the practice, two to a high-end omakase restaurant and sake bar that draws you in at ground level, and the top floor (and rooftop) is soon to become an events and discussion space. The most striking thing about the building is the combination of floor-to-ceiling windows that bring the city in and open up the interiors, and the façade’s stripes – the effect is dazzling, but it’s also radical in its simplicity and highly detailed and elegant in its execution. Photography: Ossip

Additional writing: Giovanna Dunmall

Douglas House for The Office Group note design studio

Douglas House, London, UK

Note Design Group

The latest space of TOG (The Office Group), Douglas House, has launched with interiors by Note Design Studio. The new six-floor office building on Great Titchfield Street in London is filled with personality, and uses its bold design to make a difference to the work experience of its users. Note refreshed the existing 1930s structure by creating a series of surprises within, defining different areas through colour and design gestures, underpinned by the studio’s contemporary, clean aesthetic. An undulating glass-block wall runs the entire length of the ground floor. Elsewhere, warm, natural materials mix with statement primary colours in compositions that are eye-catching but not too distracting. Photography: Simon Bevan

SPACE10, Delhi, India

Kevin Curran, programme lead, SPACE10

The sustainability-focused design and research practice responsible for fascinating collaborations with Ikea, Barkas, Effekt architects and many more, has opened a research and design lab in south Delhi. Designed as a public-facing platform for cross-disciplinary creatives to experiment with prototypes, the studio is located inside Chhatarpur’s Dhan Mill Compound, a growing hub for emerging design studios, artists and young professionals. Kevin Curran, programme lead at SPACE10, wanted to combine ideas from Scandinavian and Indian design traditions together in the space. He involved local materials and craftsmen in sourcing materials and furnishing – for example, plant pots were handmade 200m from the space and ceramic figurines were made by Aman Khanna from Claymen, whose workshop and gallery is 50m away. Curran also brought a slice of the Copenhagen HQ with them, by painting the staircase in the same bright blue. SPACE10 has previously popped up in New York, London, Shanghai and Nairobi. Photography: Deepshikha Jain

Euroboden, Berlin, Germany

David Kohn Architects

David Kohn Architects (DKA), working in collaboration with Nord Studio, has converted a listed Belle Époque interior into a new office for developer Euroboden. Located at Tempelhofer Ufer, the office inhabits the principal floor of the landmark Palais Eger built in 1881, a grand villa designed for a wealthy timber merchant featuring high ceilings, timber panelled walls and marquetry floors. Within these decorative spaces, the architects added colour, new materials such as Marmoreal (a nougat like engineered marble designed by Max Lamb for Dzek) as well as contemporary furniture. Inspired by Sir John Soane’s house museum in London, DKA wanted to capture an air of ‘productive domesticity’, where both work and cultural events could play out. Photography: Will Pryce

Takram, London, UK

Sam Jacob

For design innovation studio Takram’s London outpost, Sam Jacob Studio has created a ‘raw yet refined’ space defined by a composition of frameworks and armatures acting as workspace, storage and partitions. White horizontal planks are supported by a series of objects and material fragments assembled through a method of stacking and piling. The result forms a material library of textures and shapes – cement board sits alongside marble panels, concrete next to timber, orange tinted acrylic tubes and reflective chromed pipe. Meanwhile powder coated steel frames create a skeleton of a kitchen and workshop space, and are also used for custom furniture such as the long main office table. As an international design studio, we value ‘collective openness’ and celebrate different viewpoints and skillsets – we wanted to reflect this into space through material usage,’ says Yosuke Ushigome of Takram.

NYC based wellness company Nureca Inc's office design by Noor Architects in Chandigarh

Nureca Inc, Chandigarh, India

NOOR Architects Consultants

This office for NYC based wellness company Nureca Inc occupies the first floor of Chandigarh’s commercial Madhya Marg. The brief required a mix of private offices, open plan work areas, break out space and a café and pantry for staff. The material palette reflects modernism, offset with vernacular twists. White terrazzo floor with specially sourced colourful chip glass from the historic town of Firozabad in India, was combined with brass millwork and a lattice for the reception, baked terracotta and red brick. Noor Dasmesh Singh, principal of NOOR Architects Consultants, brought together this confluence of styles to reflect the various layers of the brand itself through the design. Photography: Andre J Fanthome

Consensys, London, UK

Neiheiser Argyros

Consensys, a blockchain software start-up, required a new office design for their five storey building to suit a growing team of diverse workers. Architects Neiheiser Argyros decided to approach the building by devising a new atmosphere for each floor – from the colour palette and mood, to the style of working. All the floors have in common a central ‘object’ that sets the tone for the floor, inside which are meeting rooms and phone booths. From this shape, a unique floor plan then grows. Each floor is named by its atmosphere, for example ‘The Laboratory’ with its light grey flooring, white furniture, and sanitized fluorescent light, is an open yet distraction-free focused workspace. Meanwhile, ‘The Library’ has cork flooring and dark wood furniture to evoke individual contemplation. Photography: Simone Bossi

200 Gray’s Inn Road, London, UK

Conran and Partners

The ground floor of this Foster + Partners office building has been revamped by Conran and Partners to create a new arrival experience worthy of its high profile occupiers – think ITN Productions, ITV and Warner Bros. Inspired by the building’s robust materials of concrete, granite, aluminium and glass, Conran and Partners designed new interventions such as the terrazzo reception desk, oak paneling, green wall and velvet booths. Building up the aesthetic of a member’s club, the idea was to blur the boundaries between work and play – as seen in the new café open to staff, visitors and the public. Photography: Anna Stathaki

Selfridges Buying and Merchandising Offices redesign

Selfridges Buying and Merchandising Offices, London, UK

Alex Cochrane Architects

Selfridges’ vibrant retail personality has been translated to its Buying and Merchandising offices in a refit by Alex Cochrane Architects. The London-based architecture firm outfitted the 1,830 sq m Duke street location with a colourful, open new design. Cellular offices have been removed and dedicated desks are a thing of the past in a bid to drive a ‘roam and work’ ethic. The raw, urban interiors act as a backdrop for large hot-desk areas and community spaces, which include a kitchen, library, roof terrace space and ‘playroom’. Recycled materials were used to create the kitchen counter, benches and tables.

Transurban, Melbourne, Australia

Hassell

Infrastructure company Transurban required an office that reflected the modern cities it serves. Across eight floors of a new building in Melbourne’s Dockland areas, Hassell created an ‘internal streetscape’, arranging desks, booths, lounges and work bays into a ’village’ formation. Tree beds are designed into the floors, with corridors mimicking a city footpath, while hanging plants layer upon the timber vaulted ceiling and blackened steel joinery. Photography: Tom Blachford

AD Gin Studio, Beijing, China

GB Space

This new photography studio in Beijing is inspired by the photographic composition technique of framing within a frame. To achieve this, GB Space created a set of rooms interconnected by partitions that can be open-plan or isolated from each another. The golden ground-level divider is retractable and foldable, and rests between the main studio space and the ‘VIP area’. This 160 sq m space compactly features a pair of washrooms, a mini bar, make-up space, shampoo area and a dining room, framed by a translucent façade overlooking the core photography space.

Institute of Physics, London, UK

TateHindle

Rather fittingly when it comes to their client’s line of business, TateHindle have created an ultra sustainable new headquarters for the Institute of Physics in London’s Kings Cross. The architects envisioned the space as a ‘living lab’, in a mission to make physics more accessible to the wider public. Apart from office space, the project includes extensive education and exhibition facilities, all within a modern and minimalist concrete envelope with timber accents. The structure, which replaces a series of retail spaces, nestles within a conservation area characterised by Victorian and post-war terraces. Combining two existing and retained facades with a new built 5-storey tall wing, the new home for the Institute is bright and welcoming, as highlighted by its open reception area and generous, oak-clad atrium and circulation core. Photography: Dirk Lindner

Unicorns & Lion, Berlin, Germany

Loehr

Berlin-based interior design studio Loehr was behind the design of this office located in the ‘neo-brutalist’ LOBE block in Berlin-Wedding designed by Brandlhuber + Emde, Burlon and Muck Petzet. The architecture of the offices has attracted artists and creative studios because of its open and flexible plan, wide outdoor terraces and exposed concrete surfaces. This was the canvas for Loehr’s concept that used colour-blocking, curtains and bold furniture choices intead of walls to divide the L-shaped office. After following the working habits and practices of the team at Unicorns & Lion, Loehr selected two chain-linked ENO tables to form a large-format workbench with Physix office chairs from Vitra and a Rope modular sofa in Kvadrat’s moss-green Vidar fabric, from Danish manufacturer Normann Copenhagen. Bespoke metal shelving, custom-fit cabinets and metal handles, in the kitchen were all tinted in the same terracotta tone.

Kojimachi Terrace, Tokyo, Japan

Nendo

Nendo has landed in the Tokyo neighbourhood of Kojimachi with its latest office design. Irked by the artificial relationships between office buildings and their exterior environments, the Japanese firm produced the eleven-floor Kojimachi Terrace. Tinted black glass is met with a wooden mesh framework that winds up the building, passing exterior terraces (that can be converted into sizeable meeting rooms) and rising to to a three-level ‘Sky Forest’ towards the roof. The weaving pattern is further applied inside, from the overhead bronze-coloured stainless steel lighting to the carpet, a bench by the entrance and the building’s logo. Photography: Takumi Ota

PMMT architects Barcelona office, Spain

PMMT

In an industrial building, previously a biscuit factory, Spanish architecture firm PMMT has designed itself a new office that reflects its core values of inclusion and health. Putting the comfort and creativity of its employees first, the atmosphere of the space is uplifting and bright with linoleum flooring, ergonomic furnishing and plenty of vegetation. The office space includes areas specially designed for ‘forward thinking’ and ‘brainstorming’ featuring moveable walls and panels for flexible collaboration. Photography: Adrià Goula

Angle + Earl St. Studio, Windsor, Australia

BoardGrove Architects

Architects Holly Board and Peter Grove have refurbished a studio shared between a property developer and a graphic design and branding business. The previously dark space was enhanced with peachy bespoke shelving, storage and a glazed stable door screen. The colour was gradated from the front of house overlooking the street, the central working zone and the back of house. The three tones respond to the daylight available, becoming lighter and softer further away from the light source. The concept was inspired by the client’s Instagram feed that features a continuous gradation of colour from one image to the next. Photography: Haydn Cattach

KPMB Architects office, Toronto, Canada

KPMB

The team at KPMB Architects brought the warmth from their former timber loft studios to their sleek new offices on the 12th floor of the Globe and Mail Centre. The minimal yet warm material palette of White Oak, exposed concrete and sustainable carpet tiles, as well as soft project pin-up surfaces made from recycled plastic, fuse a creative yet sophisticated environment. Four open plan workspaces circle the central timber-lined core and communal spaces for collaboration feature stools by Keilhauer, ottomans by eq3 and Klaus lounge chairs and timber stools. Photography: Maris Mezulis

Space10, Copenhagen, Denmark

Spacon & X

In Copenhagen’s meatpacking district, Spacon & X has redesigned Space10’s research and design lab to bring more flexibility to their existing space, which includes a fabrication laboratory, tech studio, test kitchen, event space, gallery, and flexible meeting rooms. A better connection to the community and the expansion of the office from 10 to 30 people drove the brief, and conceptually, a lot of thought went into how employees could be attracted back into the office and away from nomadic digital behaviours that reduce face-to-face creative exchange – and what effect that contact has on happiness and mental health too. A ‘chaotic’ open plan layout was brought into check with steel-framed sound-absorbing cubes and flexible panels that can be shifted into formations bespoke to use. Photography: Hampus Berndtson

global advertising, PR and marketing company Publicis Groupe's new HQ

Publicis Groupe HQ, San Francisco, USA

Blitz

This new office designed for Publicis Groupe, a global advertising, PR and marketing company, consolidates 550 employees into one location. Connectivity, agility and inclusiveness were key to the brief. A range of flexible workstations were designed with a base palette, that was then built upon with colours and materials to reflect the unique identities of each team. The Publicis Groupe wanted the design to reflect their inclusive values, requesting a mother’s room and gender-neutral lavatories, as well as a bright rainbow graphic theme that wraps around the whole office.

Campari Group North American and US headquarters, New York, USA

Gensler

The Campari Group’s new Manhattan headquarters for North American and US features leather-wrapped entry doors with brass Camparisoda bottle-shaped handles that open up to a deep blue-coloured lobby, a red lacquer staircase and a floor-to-ceiling display of precious bottles in glass cases. Gensler designed the spaces to reflect Campari’s Italian heritage, while also embracing progressive workplace design. ‘The design vision centred around employee collaboration – not dissimilar to how the perfect balance of ingredients collaborate to create the perfect cocktail – with special attention to design details, such as proper proportions, distinct experiences, and an emotional connection,’ says Stefanie Shunk, design director and principal at Gensler. Photography: © James John Jetel. Courtesy of Gensler

Girassol Building, São Paulo, Brazil

Reinach Mendonça and SuperLimão Studio

A fruitful collaboration between Brazilian architecture practices Reinach Mendonça (who worked on the overall building architecture) and SuperLimão Studio (who focused on the interior design), the Girassol Building is a new, freestanding office building in São Paulo’s trendy neighbourhood of Villa Madalena for creative agency Ampfy. Versatility was key in the project brief so interiors and shell had to coordinate cleverly and flexibly in order for the workspace to function as a series of separate smaller rooms and a single large space, depending on the occupants’ needs. The building, which stretches across three levels, was designed for dedicated commercial use, yet has an overall comfortable, domestic scale and atmosphere, making users feel at home. Site-specific art, large glazed openings that flood the space with sunlight (while also featuring appropriate shading where needed) and ample use of wood throughout work to that effect.

The Girassol Building also includes a selection of outdoor areas for workers to meet, eat or just sit back and relax on their break. A garden on the lower ground level (pictured here) is matched by a terrace higher up. Perforated panels over the glass doors can separate visually the outdoors areas from the interior when needed to secure the occupants’ privacy. Photography: Tony Chen

It’s The Flash Pack, London, UK

alma-nac

This photography studio, workshop and office space in Dulwich was converted from a former industrial unit. Unfinished materials are combined with pops of colour and the architects opened up more space by adding a free-standing steel frame mezzanine. The lower level holds an informal meeting space, lobby, kitchen and photography studio, while the new level is an office space with desks.

Materials reflect the industrial character of the building: polycarbonate sheet subdivides different areas while filtering light between spaces, and florescent strip lighting has been used artistically – in the shape of a lightning bolt and embedded into a meeting table. The work pods, seating, planters and kitchen surfaces have all been designed bespoke by alma-nac and designer Elliot Macdonald out of a material made of recycled chopping boards. While the design was low cost, the architects clearly met the brief for a fun and personable workspace: ‘ This was achieved, in part, through the contrast of quirky, recycled and colourful materials with inexpensive industrial building techniques,’ says Caspar Rodgers, director at alma-nac. Photography: Jack Hobhouse

Start-Up Nation Central (SNC) Headquarters, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Kimmel Eshkolot Architects

This striking new office interior is the home of SNC in Tel-Aviv, a philanthropy-funded and public-benefit organisation with a mission of connecting international businesses to Israel’s own ecosystem. The eyecatching design is the brainchild of Kimmel Eshkolot Architects who responded to the call of creating the headquarters of a company that champions innovation by pushing the envelope in its own way – and the project’s forward-thinking architecture. The architects worked on their concept for the convertion of an existing six-floor building by level. There are three main parts; floors for local Israeli technology companies; separate levels that house offices for SNC’s employees; as well as an upper level, which is entirely dedicated to hosting visiting delegations (pictured here). Here, a large rooftop terrace overlooking the Tel Aviv skyline and Mediterranean Sea brings the outdoors in and helps create a powerful sense of place. The space is designed as a welcoming and sleek whole that feels warm and domestic in parts but also maintains a strong contemporary edge. The HQ contains workspaces, conference rooms, extensive meeting and multi-function floors, as well as exhibition areas. Part of the program is also L28, the company’s very first restaurant, which will include a rotating 6-month chef residency and gallery areas. This new creative hub sits right at the heart of Tel Aviv’s tech district and its neatly organised and sophisticated interior reflects the values of its architects. ’We didn’t want the chaos that start-ups live in, so much as a calmer environment that suits SNC’s higher mission’, says Etan Kimmel. Photography: Amit Geron

Zetta Venture Partners, Office design in San Francisco

Zetta Venture Partners, San Francisco, US

Storey Design

Located in Jackson Square, San Francisco, this office for venture capital firm Zetta Venture Partners is a comfortable and serene response to workplace design by Katie Storey. Inspired by the owner’s upbringing in Australia by the beach, the interiors are warm and bright. Storey included an international mix of emerging and established designers, while also bringing in custom pieces and vintage additions such as Kentucky whiskey barrels. The office design departs from typically sterile working environments of other venture capital firms, bringing a unique selling point for employees and clients alike. The building where the office is located has a residential feel, like a townhouse. Storey founded Storey Design in 2014 and has focused on creating ‘resimerical spaces’ that create a ‘home away from home’ for employees. Photography: Helynn Ospina