Virgin Money
Shortlisted for the BCO awards, Spacelab have transformed a listed building in the heart of Edinburgh's financial quarter for Virgin Money, delivering a world class corporate HQ for a new era of banking.
With a brief from the client to maximise the potential for internal face-to-face communication, the incision of a new staircase brings people together and fosters collaboration between departments. The application of the Virgin Money brand and values is both deliberate but subtle in the choice of materials and graphics applied throughout the space.
RKCR
Spacelab were appointed in 2009 by a new Executive team at RKCR to review how they were utilising their existing office accommodation, and help establish a way forward that would improve the collaboration within the agency. Working closely with the managing partners Spacelab provided a strategy that allowed the agency to shift from an environment of cellular offices to a more open plan space with a diverse mix of alternative workspaces to support the business.
Maxus
Spacelab have designed the new offices for Maxus, part of WPP group, and a market leading Media Agency.
A glazed link at 7th floor of their London HQ leads into the reception area and meeting rooms suites. A full height sculptural wall within reception defines the dynamic nature of the brand and leads you in to the open plan workplace. The workspace is organised around a central communal kitchen/break out area off which there are a number of workspaces and zones for collaboration, privacy, or individual concentrated working all defined by the variety of tasks that make up a working day at Maxus.
Ogilvy Healthworld
Ogilvy Healthworld were aware that their workspace was not fit for the purposes of the new collaborative organisation that was evolving. Using questionnaires and surveys to diagnose how the space could be improved, Spacelab initially recommended more quiet space, but the results of an occupancy study suggested more radical changes could also help.
‘The key to the success of a flexible workplace is to have a series of different spaces,’ says Ogilvy Healthworld CEO Matt de Gruchy. ‘That way, staff can find the space they want to work in, rather than be told where they have to work.’
In terms of design, transparency was key: ‘Because people don’t have their own desks, the design of the space had to ensure that staff are visually available, so everyone can see who is in.'
Aqueduct
The new office for Aqueduct, a bespoke design and advertising agency in central London, are located in an upper floor of Smithfield's Meat market. A listed building, the existing long thin space has been transformed through a number of installations which both break up the space and functions but also add bright bursts of colour to an otherwise clean white interior.
Movable mid height walls create divisions and new spaces which can be moved and reoriented according to privacy or function. The meeting rooms, reception and kitchen areas have all been treated as the inverse spaces of the office, such that black walls and ceilings add dramatic effect when viewed simultaneously through the space.
Anomaly
Anomaly are a unique agency with a business model structured for innovation and multidisciplinary problem solving. Spacelab were breifed to re-design the top floor of the old Guardian building in Clerkenwell (London) that would reflect the structure and creative culture of the agency.
With openess and flexibility at the heart of the design, each and every space is visible to the other with either glass walls or bespoke black ash joinery providing screening where necessary. Operating with a completely flexible workspace solution, integrated lockers allow all staff to work at any desk or space within the office dependant on who they need to work / collaborate with on any given project or task.
33 Boundary Street
Spacelab's offices are located in the heart of Shoreditch in the East End of London occupying the ground floor of a converted warehouse building.
The office space is a hot bed of activity and a display window to the world of the work and talent which emerges from within. The open plan workspace, integrated discussion areas and collaborative zones allow innovation, thinking, learning and design to simultaneously happen providing a holistic approach to clients which is both reasoned and inspired.
Emap Communications
When Emap moved its London businesses from numerous sites into one, it asked Spacelab to design its new home. This involved the refurbishment of three floors of Greater London House, with the central focus being the reception and restaurant, which are connected by a large, central staircase.
The open-plan reception has a number of private rooms leading off it so that visitors can be led swiftly and seamlessly into meetings, while the restaurant upstairs provides space for less formal meetings, with a variety of seating options, such as tables and chairs, shared benches, and sofas around coffee tables. There is also a ‘quiet room’ separated from the main space by a glass wall, for those needing to read or work during their break.
Good Technology
The digital creative agency, Good Technology (part of the WPP group of advertising and marketing agencies), had experienced rapid growth, with a number of mergers and acquisitions. Spacelab helped it formulate a new way of working, so that it could accommodate these changes, while maintaining the feel of a small creative agency. This involved creating ‘active’ spaces for brainstorming sessions, and ‘inactive’ spaces for formal meetings. Space was also allocated for ‘hot desking’ to accommodate freelance workers, and a games area that doubles up as a place for client presentations and after-work beers on a Friday. The interior reflects the creativity of the company, with each space having its own, distinct mood.
Virgin Management
Spacelab refurbished the offices of Virgin Management, adding a new glazed link between two buildings, designing a new reception, and creating new meeting rooms and offices. The buildings house people working in marketing, human resources and finance, so we had to create a number of different working environments – some requiring collaboration, and others requiring privacy, or a quiet space.
The design sensitively marries old with new. Open spaces and large amounts of glazing improve the flow of natural light around the offices and create visual connections throughout the buildings, and exposed bricks and beams maintain their original character.
Today FM
Dublin radio stations Today FM and FM 104 commissioned Spacelab to relocate them into one building, which involved careful research, so we could enable them to share facilities, while maintaining their independence and identity. A new staircase now integrates three floors, and large glazed panels in the walls and floors maximise the flow of light, with the reception, studios, meeting rooms and entertaining spaces all used by both stations.
The result is a space that is used much more efficiently than the previous workplaces, and with the studios now on display (they were previously in a basement), it also includes employees and visitors in the excitement of live broadcasting.
Kerrang!
When the rock music radio station Kerrang began broadcasting in Birmingham they needed studios and offices to cater for their expanding set of listeners with the flexibility to host live performances.
The studios, office area and reception are all arranged around a central open plan café area whose walls can slide open to make a instant central performance space The Kerrang! identity suffuses the space with the studios and back walls of meeting rooms clad in leatherette panels in Kerrang's signature red