AKL Tech

A new and dynamic environment to suit a post-pandemic world was required to bring people back into the office.

This two level office fitout for an Auckland based Tech company is situated in an awesome location with the buzz of the motorway and nearby K’Road.

This business had an interesting situation much like many businesses post pandemic – their people had got very comfortable working at home and their existing space was uninspiring. The challenge was simple: The new space needs to reflect our brand and the space needs to bring our people back into the office. As this type of brief is our speciality it was a challenge happily accepted.

This business had a multi coloured brand that allowed the use of a wide range of colours, which can in some instances mean if used literally that we will end up with somewhere that looks like a childcare centre. Through careful design deliberation, we opted to bring in multiple colour ways but use more muted versions and through colour blocking. We also ensured that in the placement of these areas you could not see more than 2 colours at a time. The location of these colours was placed to encourage short term high action activities – specifically brainstorming and collaboration.

The balance of the space was comprised of open plan areas and more formal bookable meeting rooms. This is where we opted for a neutral light palette as these spaces were located near great Auckland views, and the more serene palette is less visual noise for productive focus areas.

With this move we adapted the layout to be more like a co-working space, without fixed desk locations. People move to sit where they want, who they need to work by, and in a location they feel it optimum for their work. With any space that does not have fixed desks there needs to be lockers aplenty, which there are.

A key aspect when bringing people back to the office is to ensure there are enough spaces that motivate but also that people have privacy for work calls or that they have spaces to focus. Across these floors we doubled their bookable meeting room capacity, tripled their socialisation space for more open meetings and team socialisation – those cherished water cooler moments. And we included 4 fully enclosed phone booths – a highly used asset for any business that has installed these.

Credits:

Alaska Construction, Kada, MF Group, Citta, UFL, Crestline, Harrows, Provision Technologies, George & Willy, Mark Scowen Photography