Image Credit : Adam Woodward
Project Overview
For their second project for Macquarie Group, align were briefed to design a series of innovative and flexible new working, meeting, presentation and break-out spaces over two storeys of their client’s City of London offices, in order to meet a period of sustained growth and a requirement for new and inspiring ways of working.
The scope of work covered much of the building’s 8th floor, including general workspaces; a staff kitchen/pantry; a large presentation and townhall space (which can also be used for other purposes); five meeting rooms and a large breakout area with an indoor-outdoor feel (‘The Terrace’). The multi-use presentation area was deemed particularly important to the success of the project and had to be able to be combined with The Terrace, with a folding wall between the two, for large-scale events.
The scheme also encompassed a number of private working booths, as well as a more relaxed work/meeting area on the building’s 9th floor. In a second phase of the project, the group’s internal services workspaces on the 9th floor were also re-designed, to showcase the services to the rest of the company. Spaces here included further open-plan workspace; a staff kitchen/pantry with integrated seating and a series of highly-differentiated meeting rooms with marked differences in tone and feel and where a number of different innovative acoustic solutions were to be trialled.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Gurvinder Khurana
Nigel Tresise
Tania Mateos
Haroulla Georgiou
Aqilah Amran
Project Brief
The brief was to include integrated, but differentiated, zones that worked within the overall building environment, with a pronounced accent on biophilia, agile working and staff wellbeing. ‘Our objective here was not to just fit-out the space in line with the rest of the building, but to use people-centred design to challenge our thinking and create a number of new inspiring spaces. We aim to create and manage high performance work environments and client spaces that are a consistent representation of our global brand and our spaces are managed to the highest possible standard, reflecting our culture and aspirations.’ (Client Head of Infrastructure Technology and Business Services, EMEA).
The existing building had a strong statement core, including a red feature staircase created by the original architects. The new design project needed to acknowledge and talk to this dominant feature. A commitment to creating a biophilic environment also meant an extensive planting strategy for the space, creating a natural connection via externally-planted roof terraces, which would also improve internal air quality and help mitigate the breakout of sound into the building’s shared atrium space.
Project Innovation/Need
Macquarie Group has a strong collaborative relationship with its staff and engages in a number of programmes promoting health, wellbeing and balance within the workplace. This project represents the continued evolution of the Group’s people-centred working environments, which support the development of agile, activity-based working practices. A high level of trust is placed in the teams to choose the appropriate spaces in which to work – whether traditionally desk-based, buzzy-and-collaborative or quiet and reflective - with overall workplace technology infrastructure allowing these to work seamlessly.
Each work zone, with its own character, also encompassed small meeting spaces and work areas, screened with combinations of furniture elements, hanging planting and open Abstracta frameworks, to create more intimate neighbourhoods within larger zones, along with jump-in jump-out phone booths to provide local quiet spaces.
The communal pantry areas on each floor are very different. The 8th floor pantry is surrounded by glass dividing walls, made more dynamic via a film manifestation in a highly-contemporary geometric pattern, subtly referring in colour to the Group’s Australian origins via earthy tones inspired by Aboriginal art. The level 9 pantry features ‘preserved planting’ panels, creating a no-maintenance vibrant addition to the space, and removing barriers between the open workspace and this communal, break-out space.
For the 2nd phase Level 9 element, a series of meeting rooms, which each trial innovative acoustic solutions, presents highly-differentiated treatments, from residential comfort to standing rooms with ‘so what?’/‘what now?’ graphics to help focus minds.
Design Challenge
Designing around the dominant red stair was achieved via occasional and well-judged uses of red throughout.
In response to the request to maximise natural light, the scheme features fire-rated glass for dividing walls wherever possible. As more traditional zones also require privacy for FCA compliance, manifestations were used for some glazed partitions. Further light was created via white-painted and deliberately-exposed ceilings, allowing for a generous 3m ceiling height and ensuring a less corporate feel.
Flexibility for the 8th floor presentation area was achieved via moveable furniture in the form of stacking chairs and folding tables. The folding wall into the Terrace beyond has a bespoke manifestation in a pointillist take on a field of bluebells - a further biophilic-inspired element.
The client’s Head of Infrastructure Technology and Business Services - EMEA said that ‘align created inspiring workspaces containing light touches of design that are both aesthetic and functional. Meeting rooms contain acoustic pendant lights to improve audio performance and collaboration spaces utilise movable walls, tables and booths to create multi-purpose and flexible spaces users can change themselves.
In business areas, quality lighting, sit-to-stand desks and clear lines of sight improve wellbeing. Enhancements to the quiet working area carried the outdoor theme up the building, creating a clearly defined space utilising carpeting, wall treatments and booths that look great, but also deliver on noise reduction in an open atrium environment. We judge our spaces by how they make people feel, think and act. The feedback from the business has been exceptional.’
Sustainability
From an energy perspective, the large elements of glazing throughout pull in as much natural daylight as possible, with cellular spaces confined to inner core areas. The lighting scheme is entirely LED-driven, with suspended up and down-lighting to limit glare to work surfaces. Floor finishes, meanwhile, feature a high degree of recycled content, as do the slatted timber acoustic panels in the presentation space, made from off-cuts of Australian red cedar.
The 8th floor Terrace is a communal space with major biophilic impetus and the planting strategy for it has had a very positive reception from staff. align worked together with Plant Plan to achieve this. Other planting includes a series of eight hanging terraria set within glass globes, visible from other parts of the office through the glass walls. There is also an indoor garden alongside two phone booths, a meeting table and chairs and shelves where awards the company has won are displayed, along with inverted sky plants by Boskke, used both within The Terrace and on the 9th
Interior Design - Corporate & Commercial
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes, aesthetic presentation and functionality. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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