Much of the office’s focus on meeting new norms around working are being addressed through improved programming. But how can materials help to support employee needs and organization goals whether it be related to wellbeing, sustainability or workplace experience? These four spaces demonstrate a creative application of materials, showing materiality’s potential to improve the workplace.
Natural materials help to achieve wellbeing and sustainability goals
Mjölk Architekti has designed the innovative timber-forward workspace for Klouboucká Lesní. Its open interior design fosters creativity and sustainability. The design is an exposed loadbearing structure made from glued laminated timber, manufactured close to the site. Concrete floors and ceilings counterbalance the timber look and lend the sleek, modern feel of a space designed for knowledge building and technological advancement. Many of the designer’s materials-forward choices centre around circularity, and the building’s interior layout goes a step further by embedding sustainability at a programmatic level. The project considers sustainability a workplace mindset rather than just a formal solution, prompting one to think about how structures can meaningfully express the philosophy of green organizations and what internal conditions are necessary.
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Materials have the potential to passively cool (work)spaces
Tropical Space set out to design a ‘second home’ for users, prioritizing natural light and ventilation. The team opted to construct the building in concrete, wrapping it in brick. The interiors take on the mono-material look as well, giving the space a powerful visual impact. A perforated brick wall stands at one side of exterior, able to rotate at a 45-degree angle at the windows to control the entry of sunlight (an effect aided by interspersed trees). Inside, there is a central void, used as a reception, that divides the functional areas. Connecting the building’s two façades, this continuous vertical opening supports the flow of light and air. Energy consumption for lighting and cooling the space, this way, is effectively lowered. While Premier Office’s concrete structure contradicts our worldwide need to slash CO2 emissions from the material, its thermal mass – like brick – is optimal. Tropical Space’s innovative, systemic use of brick in the workspace raises a valuable means of using traditional material to face modern challenges.
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Agility can be achieved through simple materiality
Following a concept based on toy blocks, SukChulMok Studio came up with a geometric design requiring only four resources: red bricks, tents, concrete and steel. The baby product brand’s Daejeon, South Korea, HQ is situated in a large industrial complex, and its new facility sits within an area that was formerly empty space between buildings. Red brick paves the space, flowing in from outside, and the combination of PFTE tents and 3-m-high concrete partitions play with notions of transparency and visual weight. This project raises an alternative way to handle the design of industrial space, especially those facilities that see lower, or even temporary use. SukChulMok Studio’s innovative utilization of material has resulted in a multi-functional, attractive facility that shows promise for further purposes if required by the company.
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Timber construction extends the longevity of the workspace
The timber Amsterdam headquarters of energy distribution company Alliander is designed for circularity, climate adaptivity and nature inclusivity. Designed by De Zwarte Hond, the 21,000-sq-m complex utilized as many circular materials – and as little glue, PU foam and sealant – as possible, focusing primarily on wood. The interior’s all-timber construction gives way to an open, large atrium, rhythmically planned workspaces and a ‘wandering staircase’. This building method stored 560 tonnes of CO2, working in tandem with 3,435 sq-m of solar panels and thermal energy storage to make the office gas-free and energy-neutral. With ‘greenhushing’ – or the reluctance for entities to communicate green initiatives for fear of backlash – on the rise, overt shows of eco-responsibility are important. In the built environment, they create pressure for other organizations to consider how to make their operations more circular. The material-forward approach helps to make directly realize these efforts.
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