Aesthetically ordered

Clear style

The clear architectural style of the sanitary technology company Dallmer is characterised by modern horizontality and a linear formal language. The Arnsberg company premises consist of flat production halls and a newly constructed two-storey administration building.

The premises

Its elongated ground floor contains additional production areas. The upper floor, with its approximately 700 square metres, is enclosed by a striking white framing that brings roof and floor together. To the west and north, the floor opens up completely by means of floor-to-ceiling glazing, which brings a lot of light into the rooms of the departments there: Management, Product Development and Sales.

The rectangular floor plan of the upper floor, which connects with the adjacent company building through a transition in the front area near the street and also places the access with staircase, lift and cloakroom there, accommodates 42 stationary workplaces. A cross span, in which the toilets and a conference room are located, divides the total area asymmetrically, with the smaller western part accommodating management offices and a secretary’s office. What is already indicated here in terms of the disposition of space dominates the larger part of the building with its individual, two- or four-person desks – a three-part linear arrangement with two longitudinal corridors.

Purist aesthetics

The purist aesthetics of the overall interior design are determined by the grey of the high-quality concrete surfaces on the ceiling, floor and many walls, the white of some partitions and fixtures as well as typical Dallmer colours: blue, grey and black. By using them in the floor covering, ceiling panelling and furniture, they create monochrome fields in three parallel sequences of rooms.

Here, the desks are lined up, the open-plan space sometimes divides into glazed booths, but mostly remains permeable as an open space. The widest band in the middle, in a blue colour scheme, also integrates office storage and technology as well as a kitchenette. Considerable planning effort went into the minimalist aesthetics of the inner room envelope: luminaires were integrated into the slat ceilings and vertically into the wall panels, ventilation lines and pipelines surrounded the coloured slat elements, under which an acoustic fleece was also installed.

What do you consider to be the supporting qualities of a good workplace?

Sabine Keggenhoff: Order, calm, emotion: a good workplace is supported by the choreography of meaningful spatial references that offer intuitive yet clear orientation. The balance of retreat and communication areas plays just as central a role as thinking along with the respective thresholds that simplify the transition to different spatial situations. Since we are present with all our senses at all times and everywhere, good workplaces must also be thought of as individualised anchor points. They build a bridge between space and users, life and work, heart and brain.

Do you see any comparability in spatial design for living and for working?

Appropriateness, atmosphere, sustainability: the design of living and working environments essentially refers to the same, original essences that arise from people’s basic needs in relation to space, such as protection, encounter, functionality and changeability. Boundaries are fluid, as interior designers we collage the best of all worlds – with the existing, beyond any arbitrariness.

Which functional aspects are decisive for you in the future development of workspaces?

Technology, flexibility, variance: temporary and stationary work characterise the duality with which today’s working worlds can be described. Even before the pandemic, which has had a reinforcing effect here, space structures, allocations and furnishings have adapted like a recipe in their basic variety of offers. Tomorrow’s workspaces will continue to be demand-oriented, dynamic and situational – mirrors of their time.