We have written much about offices in our two decades of existence and spotted many excellent examples. While we know that a super-cool environment is not an option for all, so much more can be done without breaking the bank or going overboard. We bet there is a lot that could be done in YOUR office, if only you decided to make it happen. So, now, if ever, is the time to refuse bad offices and to contribute to creating better work environments.

Amsterdam-based Framework Studio created an office for a family business that is based on an idea that many can adopt and adapt: an office that looks more like a home or an art gallery than an office.

On the second floor of an early 1900s building in the city centre, the 220-square-metre (2,368 sq.ft) space consists of four offices and a meeting room. The gorgeous original wooden floors were restored and they, together with the new French oak wood panelling throughout, link the rooms visually to each other.

The client is a young art collector, so it was natural that the spaces would be accented with art and distinctive hand-picked pieces of furniture and furnishings, something the design studio’s multinational teams are known for. We have, for example, written about the home Framework Studio owner Thomas Geerlings created for his own family in Amsterdam. Singular pieces of art and furniture accent it as well.

In this exceptional office, abstract plaster sculptures by Dutch artist Florian Tomballe are juxtaposed among vintage furniture pieces and abstract wall art by artists such as Lucas Hardonk.

Compact, white arm chairs designed in 1968 by the late Italian designer, artist and musician Luciano Frigerio create an intimate seating group with the tiny DC516 side table by Vincenzo De Cotiis

Another vignette is created by a Pierre Jeanneret King chair set next to a Poltrona Frau Trust desk topped by the alabaster Lampe Athéna table lamp designed in 2012 by Hervé van der Streaten.

Another angular Pierre Jeanneret chair flanks an elongated lozenge-shaped custom brass desk from the New York-based Patrick Parrish Gallery in front of the stunning Glustin Luminaires Creation brass floor lamp with an alabaster globe by Galerie Glustin in Paris. Tuija Seipell

Photography by Kasia Gatkowska

The post Office by Framework Studio For Family Business – Amsterdam, The Netherlands appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Designed in 2013-2015 but completed only recently, the INES Innovation Center at University of the Bio Bio’s Collao Campus is just as impressive and delightful now as it was when originally conceived. The local, Concepción-based art and architecture studio Pezo von Ellrichshausen has created a wood structure that bears many of the hallmarks of the studio’s work, most notably the blocky exterior of the structure combined with the interconnectedness that dominates the interior.

Created for the University of Bio Bio (UBB – Universidad del Bio-Bio) for its main Concepción campus where engineering, business and architecture faculties operate, INES is part of the university’s innovation-focused activities.

The blocky five-storey cube is 2,000 square metres (21,528 sq.ft) in size and as it stands on its wooden base it looks as if it could be easily picked up, turned upside down, and it would still look exactly the same. It’s a friendly-looking structure with a slightly ancient, Japanese vibe.

Inside, the five floors are interconnected via a central circular void that diminishes in size fas you go higher from bottom to top. Leaning on the railings you can see all levels yet you are separated from them. Looking up, you see a target-like set of rings that ends with a round skylight. Each floor has its own set of working areas for meetings or individual work with flexible, light-weight furnishings for maximum flexibility. Having a clear goal, connecting disparate but relevant points and being flexible are all at the very heart of innovation. The INES structure seems to speak the language of innovation fluently. The sparse material and colour palette gives the building a solid, harmonious feel.

Pezo von Ellrichshausen is an art and architecture studio established in 2002 by Chilean Mauricio Pezo and Argentinian Sofia von Ellrichshausen. They were known initially for their innovative residential projects including their own first home and studio Cien House — a small, white, five-storey concrete tower on a plinth clinging to a mountainside in Lo Pequeñ, Concepción.

Their projects often start with full-colour paintings, renderings and sketches that inspire and instruct the designers and their clients. They are now known globally for their innovative work and, for example, their paintings of Cien House are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Tuija Seipell

The post INES Innovation Center, University of Bio Bio, Collao Campus, Concepción, Chile appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

While no longer new – it was completed in 2017 – the Portland, Oregon, office of Expensify is still one of our favourite office reconfigurations.

It features several of our preferred aspects. It is a smart re-purposing project; the space has incredible height and volume, the re-design has not added unnecessary elements or blocked the natural light.

While not as sexy as De Waterhond in Belgium, Expensify’s office expresses a similar idea: To leave the original structure as intact as possible and build separate structures inside to meet the occupants’ needs.

In the case of Expensify’s office, the design team at ZGF Architects transferred the historical First National Bank Building, a downtown Portland landmark built in 1916, into a sky-lit, four-story open-plan atrium of flexible working space by using floating metal-frame boxes and natural wood structures.

Custom-designed and built on-site by Pure + FreeForm, an architectural metal design studio, the metal and glass structures perch high up in and provide full views of the atrium. A row of small wooden “houses” are lined up along an upper corridor, fully visible from the atrium but providing privacy when needed.

Inspired by treehouses seen during Expensify’s teams offshoring trips to Cambodia, tables and chairs are perched on top of the metal-framed boxes providing yet another working area that is in full view of the surroundings but private at the same time.

The 683 square-metre (7,352 sq.ft) Portland office is one of five main offices of the expense management firm. The others are located in  San Francisco, California; Ironwood, Michigan; Melbourne, Australia and London, UK. Tuija Seipell.

The post Expensify Office, Portland, Oregon, USA appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Close your eyes and think of what a school admin office from the 70s/80s might look like – if you can remember that far back or have seen TV series or movies from that era.

Whatever you method of recall, we are fairly certain that the images you envision are not pretty. It’s something worn out and echo-y, ugly, faded bright colours or worse, subdued and faded beiges, greens and blues, and other colours that cannot be defined. Graffiti on the tired walls that have been kicked and bumped by generations, and sad furniture ready for the dumpster. Closed doors, dark and uninviting corridors.

When you then compare these visions with the images of the Piazza Dell Ufficio (Italian for plaza of the office) school administration office renovation of Caroline Chisholm Catholic College in Melbourne’s Braybrook neighbourhood, you’d almost like to go back to school.

Knowing they were looking at a project in need of serious intervention, Brunswick, Australia-based Branch Studio Architects got to work on the 275 square-metre (2,960 sq. ft) space, frozen in time circa 1970, and ended up changing absolutely everything.

They imagined an open and inviting space where staff, teachers and students would actually like to work and interact and hang out.

Taking a popular approach in design, Branch Studios team imagined an Italian piazza that acts as a draw and a gathering place that is often created around a monument, statue or a big tree.

They created a central focus, a ‘clock tower’ and positioned the offices in the periphery of the open space. They broke the cubicle mold and created flexible spaces that could function as individual offices, meeting areas, shared workspace and hot desks.

The clock tower is a curved gazebo with a small table inside that resembles a clock face, surrounded by an upholstered circular bench. Further following the Italian theme, they created porticos and arched entryways while leaving as much open to the central piazza as possible. Natural light is flowing throughout the space that now looks about twice the size it did before.

The dominating, fun aspect of the project is the extensive use of inexpensive cardboard tubes that brings to mind Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s emergency shelters and art installations made of similar tubes.

We love the subdued colour palette and the fact that the office looks so decidedly grown-up and elegant. We imagine the staff and students walking in to this space feeling more appreciated and proud. Efficiency and new ways of working will also be likely results from this newly reconfigured environment. Tuija Seipell.

Photography by Peter Clarke

The post Piazza Dell Ufficio School Administrative Office – Melbourne, Australia appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Coworking spaces have grown up. Gone are the stereotypical – and therefore utterly boring – beanbag, pool table and cereal bar infested startup hubs and in their place, we are starting to see some real variety, elegance and grown-up working environments.

Many coworking spaces now offer startups and other entrepreneurs learning opportunities, entrepreneurial and personal assistance and resources and recreational options. They are also social clubs, becoming in essence a current version of the gentlemen’s club where those were excluded who didn’t qualify, where important introductions and connections were made, lessons learned, information passed on and good times had.

In London, Huckletree has created its fifth London co-working space for 250 members. This one is focused specifically on GovTech, bringing together a community of startups, investors and innovators transforming public services. It is called PUBLIC Hall and it was created in partnership with a leading GovTech venture firm PUBLIC that is also behind the annual GovTech Summit taking place this year in Paris on November 14^th.

We love that the designers at London-based Sella Concept have retained the grandeur of the French renaissance-inspired, Grade II heritage-listed building that was built in 1884 in Westminster. The 2,000 square metre (21,527 sq. ft) space carries the ornate ceiling moulding, wood flooring, chandeliers and plush furniture as if everything had always been that way, yet it all feels modern and classy.

The elegant “old” muted greens and blues on the walls contrast perfectly with the white ceilings and wooden floors and give definition to each space. The wall colour gets more intense in the basement where the checkered black-and-white floor ads period-appropriate pop while giving a nod to the Huckletree black-and-white design aesthetic. Tuija Seipell.

Photography: Genevieve Lutkin

The post PUBLIC Hall, Co-working Space, Westminster, London, UK appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

As retail has changed dramatically over those years, so have the requirements of how and where the company’s executives, buyers and merchandisers work. The company’s head office, in the Selfridges building on Duke Street, has now, after two years of overhaul, emerged in a completely new form.

To re-think the 19,700 square-foot (1,830 sq. ft) office space, Selfridges hired its go-to architect Alex Cochrane. Cochrane’s office has designed, for example, Selfridges Men’s Designer Floors and Personal Shopping areas, as well as the world’s largest eyewear department in Selfridges new Accessories Hall.

The new offices focus on maximizing flexibility and encouraging cooperation between the various departments. No-one has a permanent spot among the 125 works stations as everyone gathers their belongings at the end of the work day and stores them in their personal locker. In the buying and merchandising area this makes particularly perfect sense as most of the team members in this group have very busy travel schedules, are used to nomadic life and don’t require a permanent office.

Separate, more enclosed areas exist in the form of pink-glass phone booths and sound-proofed blue-fabric-paneled meeting booths that can also double as quiet offices.

Of course, there are the obligatory playroom, kitchen, lounge and outside terrace, all encouraging teams to spend unstructured time together.

Much attention was paid to sustainable design elements as well. Renewable wood paneling, solar panels, local, reused and reusable, as well as green certified materials were prioritized.

 Kitchen counters and benches are made of boards of compressed recycled paper, and acoustic wall-linings and seating are structured of boards made of recycled plastic and bottle tops. Discarded building boards were re-coated and re-used, and floor surfaces were made from 97 per cent raw and natural materials.

 The meeting room acoustic paneling is made from 100 per cent renewable and discarded wood, all lighting is low energy, and kitchen appliances and AV monitors were selected for their A+ rating.

This great new playground matches the working style of the company’s head office teams of today perfectly. We can only imagine what the first Selfridges head office looked like 111 years ago, but it is safe to assume that with its dark paneling and heavy leather chairs it matched the working style of that day just as well. Change is good. Tuija Seipell.

The post Selfridges Buying Offices – London, UK appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

There is no millennial pink nor other feminine pastels in the Tribeca, New York City clubhouse of female executives’ private network, Chief. 

Instead, New York-based designers Amy Butchko and Adrienne Laube of The Springs Collective selected mid-century modernist and slightly more recent pieces to furnish the rooms that collectively read like an opulent but not overly lavish home.

Men’s club staples of dark walls, rich reds and greens, and velvet and leather seating are offset with lush house plants and numerous rugs, large windows and small seating areas. The ambiance is inviting but not overly homey.

Chief is a private network of women in power positions or on their way to them.

Chief cofounders are Lindsay Kaplan, former VP of communications at mattress startup Casper, and Carolyn Childers, formerly SVP of operations at digital home services marketplace, Handy.

Early this year, they started Chief with $3 million in seed fund round led by Primary Venture Capital and Flybridge Capital Partners.

Chief clubhouse is not a co-working space or a social or fitness club, it is a space for executives to relax, exchange ideas and make connections with other members in similar positions.

In addition to the clubhouse, Chief’s current components include, for example, mentorship, a digital network and monthly lectures. The founders describe the services as “executive coaching on steroids.”   

At the time of founding, Chief stated simply that “At the current rate of change, it will take over 200 years for women to reach parity in business. We are not waiting eight generations.”

The statement refers to the recent World Economic Forum announcement that women still earn only 51 percent as much as men, and that round the globe women will achieve “economic gender parity” in 200 years.

Membership fees at Chief start at $5,400 for VP level members and $7,800 for C-suite level.  At the time of the initial founding announcement in January, Chief already had a 3,000 person waiting list.

Executives from Amazon, American Express, Cartier, Google, Instagram, Johnson & Johnson, Spotify, The Wall Street Journal, Verison and WeWork are already on board.  Tuija Seipell.

The post Chief Clubhouse, TriBeCa, New York City appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

Too often, we see office, residential, hospitality and retail design where the designer seems to have been unable to stop.

Perhaps it is our minimalist sensibilities, but much of the time, we get the feeling that half of what’s there is superfluous, not necessary, not adding anything. And all that excess takes attention away from whatever good features there are. It’s just visual noise, distraction upon distraction.

So, whenever we see a clear idea executed boldly, we pay attention. Such is the case with Monoarchi’s Shanghai office.

Monoarchi is an architecture firm based in Shanghai and Rotterdam.

The three founders, Xiaochao Song, Keming Wang and Nan Zhou, each have multiple degrees from European, Canadian and Chinese universities, and varied interests in architecture, urban planning, cultural history, revitalization and preservation.

It is no wonder, then, that their own new office in Shanghai is an example of careful and considered restoration.

The 100 square-metre (1,076 sq.ft) office is located on the ground floor of a building with real history – a 1940s villa in the French Concession.

For nearly 100 years, this residential area was under French control that ended with World War II.

Monoarchi took its cues from the arches prevalent in the area and then had the courage to not over-design.

We love the graphic emphasis of the arched form achieved by black steel bars. Contrasting these black lines against the solid grey concrete of the vaulted doorways, walls and floors creates a crisp structure.

The small space looks larger than it is because of this pared-down inventory of ideas, and seems to accommodate everything easily.

They needed working space for eight staff and display areas for work in progress and prototypes. By leaving much of the space undesignated to any one particular function, they have achieved flexibility while avoiding the dreaded look of an open-plan office. Tuija Seipell.

The post Monoarchi office renovation, Shanghai, China appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

We love it when designers flex their creative muscles in the transformation of spaces from one use to another. New and shiny is great, but there’s always something uniquely compelling and fascinating about an environment that has a history.

Reuse and repurposing took many forms in the case of the office for Helsinki, Finland-based creative agency, Bob the Robot by Helsinki-based interior design firm, Studio Joanna Laajisto.

Not only is the office space itself a former bread factory in the Kallio neighbourhood of Helsinki but much of the furniture and several of the materials are also reused.

The brief was to transform the six-meter (almost 20 ft) high, 1,500 square-metre (16,145 sq.ft) open space into something that would feel like a private club, an inviting but exclusive place for clients and staff.

And the designer and client were not thinking about an old, English private men’s club with dark-paneled walls, imposing pricey paintings and heavy leather chairs.

They were thinking much more Scandinavian and democratic. Light colours, homey yet cool furniture, fluffy rugs, potted plants and lots of natural light.

The result is a fresh and inviting open-plan office divided in to public areas, such as the lobby and café and meeting rooms.

The private areas, meant just for employees, are at the back of the space as well as on the second-floor loft in the center. But there are no actual dedicated offices. Every space will be used flexibly, as needed.

In keeping with the history and industrial feel and of the space – and to lower costs – Laajisto’s office sourced ‘slightly defective,’ lower-grade carrara Italian marble to use in several areas, including the stairwell and reception desk.

Joanna Laajisto tells The Cool Hunter about the intense search for vintage designer furniture that would still carry significant value and therefore be a good investment but that would not be typical, boring office furniture.

The resulting eclectic mix of pieces includes the cafe chairs that are vintage Artek chairs designed by Alvar Aalto and the conference room chairs that are vintage Ilmari Tapiovaara.

There are also vintage designer pieces in the lounge, including the Pastilli chair by Eero Aarnio and Marcel Brauer’s Wassily chairs.

According to Laajisto, everything that was bought new for the office was also to be of high quality so that it would be an investment for the future. “For example, the lobby Cassina chairs are new as well as the Massproductions sofas and Friends and Founders side tables,” she says.

“The interior lounge sofas and chaise lounge from Stua are also new as are the lounge meeting room sofa from Gubi and Tapiovaara lounge chairs.”

The overall feel of the office is light and fresh as well as warm and inviting.  With the vintage components and homey details, the previously cavernous industrial hall has been transformed into a working space that already now looks lived-in –  in the best possible way. Tuija Seipell

 Photos: Mikko Ryhänen

The post Bob the Robot Office by Studio Joanna Laajisto, Helsinki, Finland appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.

There’s nothing new about dark wood, marble and leather-topped desks in lawyers’ offices, but even the traditional approach does not need to be stuffy.

Dutch law firm Deknudt Nelis wanted its third office – the other two are in Brussels and Kortrijk – to exude honesty and authenticity.

As their space was located in one of the Cubes in the Kanaal complex – mixed-use blocks on the historic malt distillery site in Wijnegem near Antwerp – they already had a good start in being slightly untraditional.

They liked the atmosphere of the nearby offices of designer Arjaan De Feyter and asked him to create their own offices as well.

De Feyter used a limited palette of materials, colours and shapes and created a harmoniously elegant office.

We love the overall cube-like language: slightly blocky and decidedly sparse of ornamentation with the background formed by the minimalist texture and subdued hue of the walls, ceilings and floors.

Contrasting that background are green marble and dark wood. We love the crispness of the green marble and its elegant use as a backsplash in the bar, and we especially like the lattice-legged dark custom desks .

The total area of the office is 140 square metres (1,500 sq.ft)  and includes the meeting room, two executive offices, office space, an open-plan kitchen, a technical room, storage and bathrooms.

The Cubes are part of the Kanaal Site that has had industrial activity since 1857. It was known also as the location of the Albert Malthouse, later taken over by Heineken. In 1998, Axel Vervoordt bought the site started using some of the buildings for his art dealership.

In late 2017, Vervoordt Company completed the long process of transforming Kanaal from a dilapidated industrial site into a cultural and residential complex that includes exhibition spaces, a multi-use auditorium, and permanent installations by major artists. –  Tuija Seipell.

Images by Piet-Albert Goethals

The post Cube Law firm office, Antwerp, Belgium appeared first on The Cool Hunter Journal.