Norwegian Office – Statoil

Statoil is a Norwegian oil and gas company formed by the 2007 merger of Statoil with the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro. The Government of Norway is the largest shareholder in Statoil with 67% of the shares. This is the company’s award-winning HQ in the town of Fornebu in Norway, and doesn’t it look stunning! The space was designed by a-lab, a young Norwegian architectural firm which won the project during an international competition held in 2009.

For Statoil, it was a clear objective to gather its organisation in a single efficient headquarters. The innovative offices have an unusually low energy consumption that satisfies Statoil’s ambitious environmental demands. Impressive use of cantilevering, with up to 30-metre overhangs, and the advanced glass-roofed atrium, make the building unique in Scandinavia.

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Kronjylland Savings Bank – Denmark

Kronjylland Savings Bank is based in Denmark, their HQ is a large  monolithic structure with an industrial vibe to it. The inside of the office space is very nice, clean and modern as one would expect from a company such as this. However the cool thing about this project is not the inside, but the outside. The whole building is designed in such a way that it can reflect images and colour, essentially making the exterior of the building one large canvas!

The conference section and the manager’s office each has its glass area flush with the slate facade. Internal traffic moves through and around a foyer with a glass roof, which across the whole height of the building links the ground floor with the other office floors. All workstations are located along the building facade, enjoying the magnificent view. It creates a soft urban front, in keeping with the rural scenery of the banks.

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Microsoft Corporate HQ – Vienna

ARGE KOOP/INNOCAD were the team behind Microsofts corporate HQ in Vienna. As is usual with many tech companies the office is light, airy and above all fun! I especially love the meeting room decked out in wood, I love the warm dark hues intertwined with sharp accents of white for stimulation.

According to the architects

Our aim is to intertwine and harmonise physical, virtual and social working environments.

[Photography by Paul Ott]

Unilever Office – London, Victoria Embankment

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods, their main sectors of operation are foods, home care and personal care. They recently had Kohn Pedersen Fox extensively refurbish their London office space. The London office was based in a historic building and so Unilever wanted to both modernise but also preserve the space. The London office is based on Victoria Embankment overlooking the River Thames, with the building originally being completed in 1932 and listed as a Grade II landmark structure in 1977. The building has served as the headquarters for Unilever since the early 1930s.

Extensive consultation was held with Unilever employees to develop a design to provide high-quality office space that responds to the company’s operational requirements while retaining important parts of the building to safeguard its historic character.

Perkins+Will – Washington DC

Perkins+Will  is a Chicago-based architectural firm, we’ve featured several offices they’ve designed before. This time we are focusing on their own Washington DC based office space. What’s special about this office, apart from the spectacular design, is that it is LEED Platinum certified.  This is no mean feat, and it is achieved by implementing various innovative features.

The office features a self-contained passive solar hot water system that supplies the restrooms and café; the system is powered by photovoltaic panels on the rooftop. Power submeters separately monitor energy consumption for HVAC, lighting, computing, and plug loads. Real-time consumption data is digitally displayed in the reception area. The office has a comprehensive daily recycling program in place and buys 100% green power.

China Huaneng Group – Office Headquarters

The China Huaneng Group is the largest power company in China, their office headquarters are located in the prominent Chang’an Boulevard of Beijing. This Chinese office space was inspired by traditional Chinese courtyard typology, defined by a series of communal spaces and a style which attempts to express the corporation’s progressive identity. The office was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, a well known international architectural practice with offices around the world.

The design organizes the corporation and its subsidiaries around a generously scaled central atrium, which acts as the main communal space for the Huaneng “family.” A fully-glazed, thin shell structure covers the atrium and filters daylight into the space. At the heart of the atrium is a freestanding, lantern-shaped volume, which consists of an outer layer of LED tubes attached to a glass staircase that spirals around an exhibition space and a VIP meeting room. This luminous, cylindrical volume symbolizes the source of energy at the center of the company. Other common areas include a sunken garden, a sky garden, and double-height breakout spaces.

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IAC Office Space – Chelsea New York

The New York office of IAC was designed by the renowned architect Frank Gehry. IAC (InterActiveCorp) is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries. The Chairman and Senior Executive is Barry Diller,who was previously head of Paramount Pictures, Fox Broadcasting and USA Broadcasting.

Completed in 2007 the office is located in the Chelsea area of New York and serves as IAC’s world headquarters. The building features more than 20 conference rooms that are equipped with the latest technology, including smart boards and high-definition video conferencing equipment. At night, with the interior lights on, the glass curtain wall becomes transparent and the concrete skelton of the building emerges to great effect. The inside of the building is no-less interesting, with most interior office walls being translucent glass enhancing the natural light pouring in through the glass exterior.

eOffice offers a variety of office space in New York, including conference facilities and meeting rooms. Click here to find out more.

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Adidas Laces Office Space – Germany

Kadawittfeldarchitektur has recently completed the Adidas Laces building for Adidas in Germany. The building will serve as a new working environment for Adidas’ R&D department. The new building is located at the company’s corporate headquarters in Herzogenaurach. It will house about  1,700 designers, developers, scientists and marketing strategists.

Laces was conceived as a flexible office building. Changes in the composition and size of teams or of the entire occupying units are every bit as normal in a globally active company like adidas as the temporary integration of employees from other locations  worldwide or groups of external persons.

 

This means that the use of space within the Office Module can be adapted to organisational changes more easily than hitherto. This reversible concept for office space is based on modular units of occupancy following the planning grid of 1.60 metres, a flexible partition system to create individual offices and meeting rooms, and on an elaborate technical pre-installation enabling media provision that also functions according to the planning grid.

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