Description

A global management consultancy concern, Accenture develops technology and business strategies for innovative clients. Its staff move from project to project, from country to country and from one continent to another. Depending on the project size, they work either alone or in teams, principally at the client’s location. It is only for staff meetings, research and short-term work that they rent office space for themselves. They book the necessary workspace over the Internet for a few hours, days or months. In accordance with the tasks they are assigned, staff choose between workplaces in group offices, private offices, conference rooms, telephone booths, or in the open zone. They might even decide on temporary workplaces and informal communication areas. All the consultants are linked to the Internet with their laptops from every workplace and are thus able access the company’s centralised database. In addition to the principle of shared workplaces, ‘hotelling’ also offers a comprehensive service; as well as the usual secretarial tasks, the back office carries out research, takes care of ticket and hotel reservations, or­ders food and drink, arranges tickets for cultural events and entertainment and functions as an apartment-finding service. The staff are supposed to feel like guests in their offices.

As top priority is given to the principles of ‘hotelling’ and diversity of workplace, every site implements its own design concept. In Zurich, the interior design is inspired by that of an English club. Occupying two floors of a neo-classical building in the city centre, an office world has been created in brown, beige and red tones, with armchairs, fabric-shaded table lamps, curtains and simple, elegant wooden tables. All manifestations of the state-of-the-art technology they use remain hidden. The rooms hardly remind one of an office in which efficiency and perfection are top priorities.

In the Hamburg office, in the “Kaufmannshaus” built in 1909, the Business Club develops into a homelike atmosphere. In addition to the types of workplace already described, the dining room, the cafeteria and a sort of sitting room with armchairs provide a variety of spaces for communication and relaxation. As central places for communication, the conference room and the small meeting room represent special spatial forms and create striking accents. Orange tones and light-coloured wood emphasise the homelike character of the office.

In this world of employment where flexibility and mobility are of the highest order, offices become communication spaces that compensate for the loss of spatial ties by providing comfortable working surroundings.

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Originally published in: Rainer Hascher, Simone Jeska, Birgit Klauck, Office Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2002.