ENERGY CENTRE

Utilisations

Creating a successful symbiosis between areas with customer contact and zones of a back office as well as a connected administrative unit is not easy. User requirements and activities differ significantly, as do the interior design room typologies. Customers are first and foremost guests who are received in invitingly designed zones. During their brief, often standing presence, they want to be fully informed and have their concerns dealt with. The room acoustics must ensure good speech intelligibility. The staff, on the other hand, deserve a pleasant working atmosphere throughout the working day, ergonomic equipment, effective partitioning for concentrated activities, basic sanitary and catering facilities – and of course one or two other things, such as good sound insulation or lighting. It was precisely this constellation that null2elf interior architects had in mind in their concept for the redesign of the customer centre of Stadtwerke Heiligenhaus.

Control Centre

Six employees work on the 150 square metre ground floor of an older retail building under the effective public heading “Control Centre”. With its central, glazed entrance, it opens out onto the small-town shopping street. At the front, the municipal utilities present themselves in a pleasant blue contact room, with lines representing the gas, water and electricity supply lines, and there is a fresh water dispenser for drinking bottles. Strong colours also prevail in the rear work area, which is discreetly partitioned off. Blue, coral red and yellow accents contrast with light wood tones, a concrete look and light grey woollen fabrics with graphic elements. They are distributed across the various room functions: Individual workstations, a team and break table, a lounge island and a kitchenette, the “energy filling station” for Workspace employees. The rotating system of the municipal utilities creates a positive change of location for employees in this working environment: They work alternately at the front in the customer area or at the back in the administration, but sometimes also in the home office.

What do you think are the key qualities of a good workplace?
Barbara Eitner: A good workplace should be able to adapt to the changing users and their work routines. It should ensure that they can perform well in a healthy, stimulating feel-good atmosphere under the best spatial conditions, including in terms of lighting, acoustics, ventilation, with opportunities for dialogue and retreat.
Do you see any similarities in interior design for living and working?
As we are increasingly integrating work into our homes as an option, separate rooms are not always available for this and rooms for work are used multi-functionally – such as guest rooms – the boundaries are becoming blurred anyway. In terms of design, there is nothing to stop us from designing our working environment with the same care and feel-good factors as we do in our homes.
Which material-related aspects do you consider to be the most important for the future development of workspaces?
The consideration of material-related aspects is extremely multifaceted. It is important to favour materials that are aesthetically pleasing yet durable and robust, as they are exposed to a certain amount of wear and tear. Ideally, they should age gracefully and can be repaired rather than replaced. At the same time, the focus should be on using sustainable materials that can be seamlessly returned to the circular economy, which is not a contradiction in terms.