Virtual Identity

Creativity Needs Space

Advertising agency Virtual Identity has grown steadily over the past few years and relocating eventually became inevitable. CSMM – architecture matters designed a tailor-made office in the listed Thalkirchner Bahnhof in Munich, Germany, which retained the character of the building: a new structure was built into the eight-meter-high brick hall, detached from the historical fabric of the building. Utilizing two storeys, it creates a central square that can be used as a stage, with deep steps providing seating and a place for temporary laptop work. The façades of the new structure come with a chalkboard coating to serve as a huge interface for messages, news and creative ideas. With the aim of improving work flows and optimizing communication between employees, various meeting places have been created in the form of closed, open and semi-open workspaces. Glass sliding doors and windows of the work zones can individually separate the work areas from the central piazza in the center of the hall.

Involving Staff

The project is the result of a long-term analysis of both the agency’s work processes through workshops together with a 3D model, always involving staff. Workplace assignments, communication zones, meeting venues as well as color and material concepts could thus be presented, discussed and defined in an understandable way. The result is a flexible office structure that lives up to the creative, cross-project nature of Virtual Identity. ‘Nothing has changed our way of working as much as our new office,’ says Ralf Heller, Managing Director of Virtual Identity.