Ideas Concentration Office

2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 02:26

The IT sector is one of the most creative customers for office space - even before the pandemic, it actively tested flexible functional and spatial solutions of agile offices (which in translation, in fact, means “flexible”). BNP Paribas Technology, part of the French bank BNP Paribas and engaged in banking IT projects, is no exception. BNPP Moscow office with an area of 1,800 m², located in the White Square business center, has turned out to be a spectacular multifunctional space, the distinctive features of which are unsecured workplaces, diverse and geometrically complex zoning for work and social interaction of employees.

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Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov

In agile offices, which often choose companies with a strong creative component, social and work processes are closely intertwined, and the workspace itself is thought primarily in terms of the capacity of creativity, the ability to launch and support the processes of generating new ideas. Ideally, in such an office, each specialist has the opportunity to capture and convey to his colleagues a born idea at any time, being in any room.

“It was important for the client to get a flexible space that helps people feel more comfortable at work, increase creativity and productivity. Among other solutions, one can single out a feature of the organization of work, when a person does not have a fixed workplace, and the principle works - whoever came earlier chooses the best place. We were very fortunate as the customers discussed their workflows with us quite a lot, and in the end we seemed to be able to come up with the right solution.”

Actually, this was the central idea in the "T + T" project - to offer such a functional zoning that would support the necessary concentration of ideas. To do this, first of all, it was necessary to take into account the specific toolkit of the customer's team - and it is quite diverse: the number of people in the project team varies from three to several dozen people, and in order to meet the needs of all these forms of activity, the architects have developed several formats of the workspace.

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Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov

In addition, the specific shape of the building of the White Square business center itself affected the plan of the office - as you know, its buildings are triangular, they pass a whole street between themselves, and with rounded noses go out to the Old Believer St. Nicholas Church. These curvatures of the facade in the corners, according to the architects, imposed some restrictions on the organization of the space. To ensure that the planning structure is clear for users, the authors tried to arrange meeting and public spaces in complex-shaped places on the plan, using the effects of plasticity and complex geometry of the premises.

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1/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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2/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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3/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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4/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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5/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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6/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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7/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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8/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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9/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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10/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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11/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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12/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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13/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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14/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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15/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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16/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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17/17 Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov

Office employees, as noted above, do not have their own seats, but in the free order you can occupy both combined workstations and offices, if you need silence and concentration. IT specialists spend a significant part of their time in interaction and negotiations, therefore, the project includes the maximum possible meeting rooms and places for joint work - the so-called standup zones of various sizes: they meet every 3-4 rows and are equidistant from workplaces.

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Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov
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Moscow office of BNP Paribas Technology Photo © Ilya Ivanov

On the plan, workstations are located along the facade of the building, capturing the maximum of natural light and interspersed with meeting rooms "aquariums" - they are made using curved glass and are ranked in size: from small for 4-6 people - to large, up to 14 employees. In the center of the room there appears a triangular "island" with a kitchen, reminiscent of the flowing lines of the BC building itself.

Wherever there are workplaces, architects have provided marker walls and mobile interactive whiteboards so that employees can jot down ideas and have quick discussions without leaving the workplace. The office has many walls lined with white stemalite, which is convenient to write on.

Московский офис BNP Paribas Technology Фотография © Илья Иванов

Gray and white colors prevail in the decoration of work areas, which allows you to concentrate and not get tired, as well as add spectacular color accents - they are made in blue and green in accordance with the company's brand book. Thus, against the background of monochrome walls and floors, bright counterpoints appear in the form of corrugated inserts of "patinated copper" with the use of folded metal, blue "booths" for communication and the green "waffle" ceiling of the kitchen. Surfaces of untreated “clean” concrete of columns and reception counters become a textured accent: in combination with open communications on the ceiling, they “remind” of the company's technological bias.

“The choice of colors and materials was, on the one hand, determined by the client's corporate colors, which we used in common areas and recreation areas. On the other hand, we aimed to create a space that would allow us to work comfortably for as long as possible - for this, the neutral white-gray scale was a good fit. Patinated copper, shades of green and turquoise patina, which successfully correlate with BNPP's signature colors, were chosen as the accent material."

Most of the color accents are concentrated in areas with recreational functions - there are a lot of them here, since it is believed that interaction and creativity between employees is not limited to work processes: this is a transparent green kitchen, bright blue coffee points, gorgeous white living rooms with large sofas and panoramic views of the area Belorusskaya, a special sports room. And one more, image recreation area called townhall - with its own wooden amphitheater with illuminated steps. Here warm wood is added to the deep blue corrugated ceiling and walls to create a very cozy space where you can sit, read, chat or play table tennis.

As a result, with a fairly limited area of premises, "truncated" by the complex outline of the building itself, T + T architects managed to place as many working areas of a very different format as possible. Spatial and functional diversity, which is fundamental for creative spheres, such as the IT sector, was achieved with the help of verified geometry and flexible zoning, dynamic lines of rooms and furniture, a combination of carefully selected textures and shades of materials.