Whether you work in a corporate office or a finance company, the office design should be a tranquil space where you can flex your creativity, conduct meetings, and carry out day-to-day business. Since the last few decades, our work culture has changed a lot, and now it has advanced immensely and modern office design.
So what should our office design be like? What should we include in its interiors? A modern office design should represent the company’s services and work. After all, a company is identified or expressed by its workspace design. Now interior designers and architects are creatively designing commercial and office buildings.
Whether it be a startup company or a company with thousands of employees, you can see various brilliant structures with unique exterior and interiors in the world. Today in this blog, we’ve rounded up five buildings with modern offices interior designs that are inspirational for all of us.
So if you’re also looking for some buildings with the finest and modern office workspace designs, keep on reading. Each building is unique in itself, has unusual but functional interior designs, and is located in totally different parts of the world.
Here are five architects’ office layouts that’ll help you decide the design of your workplace.
1. Transurban
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Architect: Hassell Studio
Transurban is an infrastructure company, and architects wanted a building that reflects the modern vibe of the city. Located in Melbourne’s Dockland areas, Australia, the structure consists of eight floors.
Designed by Hassell Studio, it has a modern office design that features an ‘internal streetscape.’ All the desks, booths, lounges, and work bays are arranged in a ’village’ formation.
Tree beds have been created and designed into the floors precisely while corridors mimicked a city footpath. Also, hanging plants are layered upon the timber vaulted ceiling and blackened steel joinery, which makes all the interior look urban and rural at the same time.
2. Selfridges Buying and Merchandising Offices
Location: London, UK
Architect: Alex Cochrane Architects
This is an office place of Selfridges’ executive, buying, and merchandising teams. Designed by London-based architecture firm Alex Cochrane Architects, this place has an open-plan workroom and communal seating. Why is it designed in such a way? Because the staff doesn’t like to work in the previous closed-off cubicles and desks design of the office.
The office’s new design has a 1,830 square meter area, and that too with a colorful and open layout. It is meant to encourage better communication and collaborative work amongst employees. The new architecture office design promotes the ‘roam and work’ ethic.
Selfridges’ buying and merchandising director, Sebastian Manes, says, “ Prior to the redesign, the offices were a very much no-frills, function-led space.” He further added, “ Although space had seen several cosmetic updates over time, it was in need of a full strategic, structural and aesthetic rethink. The needs and behaviors of the buying and merchandising teams had changed, and space was no longer adequate.”
Architects designed the interiors raw and urban so that they’ll also act as a backdrop for large hot-desk areas and community spaces. The main room in the office has also been transformed into a single open-plan space. Long timber desks are placed in the center, where people can work individually or in groups. The design also includes a kitchen, library, roof terrace space, and playroom.
One thing that’s wonderful about this workspace is that recycled materials have been used to create the kitchen counter, benches, and tables.
Architect Alex Cochrane explains, “ We were set on creating a functional space that broke away from anything that encourages repetitive and rigid working patterns usually seen in traditional office design formats.” He also includes, “The result is an office that feels totally open, flexible and homely whilst fostering a highly effective professional output.”
3. Institute of Physics
Location: London, UK
Architect: TateHindle
The new headquarters for the Institute of Physics (IOP) is located at the southern end of Caledonian Road and straddling Balfe Street. Do you know that this building is a highly sustainable structure? Yes, it acts as a ‘living lab’ to showcase physics and innovative technology.
Designed by TateHindle, space is created to make physics more accessible to the wider public. It is also used for IOP’s membership activities and to support its ambition to engage different communities.
The building design or plan has a double-height exhibition gallery and auditorium. Also, full-height windows are specifically designed to give glimpses of the institute’s activities. There is also a hotel-like workplace for The Falcon Group in the City of London. Which is not commonly seen in England architecture.
The entire project also includes extensive education and exhibition facilities. They all have a modern and minimalist concrete envelope with timber accents. These structures have actually replaced the series of retail spaces, nestles within a conservation area.
4. SPACE10
Location: Delhi, India
Architect: Kevin Curran, programme lead, SPACE10
In November 2019, in honor of SPACE10’s fourth anniversary, they have opened a new research and design lab in Delhi, India. The site is designed by Kevin Curran, who is a program lead at SPACE10. The main objective of this project is to find and create a balance between the lab’s existing identity and the new location.
Kevin Curran explains, ‘Space10 Copenhagen is rooted in Scandinavian design, so when having to design our new lab in Delhi, I wanted to be true to Space10’s identity while embracing and celebrating the rich, colorful and vibrant design traditions of India.’
The overall design is mainly focused on sustainability and fascinating collaborations with Ikea, Barkas, Effekt architects, and many more. The main studio is located inside Chhatarpur’s Dhan Mill Compound, which is a growing hub for emerging design studios, artists, and young professionals.
Kevin includes local materials and nearby craftsmen such as plant pots were handmade and ceramic figurines were made by Aman Khanna from Claymen. This is not a new office that SPACE10 has recently opened; they also previously popped up in New York, London, Shanghai, and Nairobi.
According to the managing director at Space10, Kaave Pour, ‘We want to be where the future is.’ He continues, ‘India has a young, educated and tech-savvy population and will soon be the most populated country on Earth, with a fifth of the world’s youth living there. India is also one of the most diverse countries on the planet with the fastest-growing economy. We, therefore, consider the country extremely inspiring and as the ideal place to learn and explore the new sustainable and scalable solutions that can help combat real problems for real people.’
5. Thonik HQ
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Architect: Thonik, MMX Architects
This incredible structure is situated in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and it is the headquarters of Graphic design studio Thonik. It is a collaboration project between Thonik and MMX Architects. Just try to guess, How long did it take to build this building? 12 years, yes, you read it right.
It took more than a decade to complete the entire building, but the result is amazing and is worth all the time that has been invested in it. The whole structure consists of a highly graphic six-story on the city center’s only post-war urban boulevard – the Wibautstraat.
Three floors have been dedicated to the practice from the six floors, two to a high-end omakase restaurant. There is a sake bar on the ground floor, and on the top floor (and rooftop) is soon to become an event and discussion space.
If we talk about the exteriors, the main focus and the show-stealing elements are the combinations of floor-to-ceiling windows. Through these windows, it appears like the city is coming in, and the interiors are going out. On top of that, the facade’s stripes, they’re creating a dazzling effect, but it looks subtle from far. The exterior lines are inspired by the tri-linear striped Excellent font designed for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico.
Thomas Widdershoven and Nikki Gonnissen, who are the practice’s founding duo, say about the building, ‘Designing and building your own workspace is still an experimental alternative in our current economic system. Because the system is full of rules and regulations designed to prevent that sort of experimentation.’
The Bottom Line
“A great office should always reflect your personal taste and inspire your best work.”
I hope after reading about all these modern office designs and plans, you surely get the idea about your new office building or what’s going on in the architecture.
