Second Home

Sustainable New Work

A media and publishing company like Condé Nast Germany, based in Munich, is characterized by a large proportion of individual and concentrated work. Home office stays are suitable for this, and are increasingly appreciated by employees as an alternative to office presence – as the client and employer discovered in the course of its process analysis, but also in workshops.

The consequence of this development was for Condé Nast to react with a sustainable New Work concept, which – jointly developed with and implemented in terms of interior design by tools off.architecture – equipped the working environment with a new quality. The task was to take up the spatial alternation between home and office, which has a positive effect and should therefore be maintained, and to develop office spaces for it, which would be able to offer a kind of “second home” in terms of atmosphere. This design harmonization was accompanied by a function-related refurbishment of the office areas, which at the same time had to be oriented towards a particularly effective use of presence.

Working, creating an living

The available gross floor area of 2,700 square meters was subsequently occupied by only 150 stationary workplaces with 260 employees. This gave rise to the opportunity for a reorganization of the content into three zones: “Working” with office workplaces that can be flexibly occupied, “Creating” with areas for information, collaboration or project work, and “Living” in the form of living areas for exchange and communication, equipped with inviting furniture and demarcated by “partitions” made of walnut.

Lockers are available for short-term or only temporary presence at changing workplaces. Consequently, the special achievement of the interior design was to accommodate the consciously entered restlessness and the advocated change of personnel in the daily work process by a formally calming, but at the same time intuitively and effectively usable spatial language. In addition, this Best Workspace manages to create an ambience that is stylistically appropriate to the client.

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

Condé Nast Germany: A good workplace is a place where people enjoy working. That means high functionality in terms of aesthetics, ergonomics and acoustics. But the emotional quality is just as important: a sense of community, joy, inspiration.

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

Both are about well-being. You only live and work well in an environment if care and attention to detail are noticeable. It’s about appreciation of the person.

Which functional aspects do you consider to be the most important for the future development of workspaces?

Workspaces should not radiate rigid structures or finality. Neither in terms of spatial boundaries nor in terms of style. Each company should create its own individual workspace according to its needs. Templates are a thing of yesterday…