A NEED FOR HYBRID WORKING ENVIRONMENT
In addition to scaling down its office environment, CAK has made a transition towards different working methods and styles. Milou Simons, interior architect at De Unie Architecten: 'It was CAK's experience from the pandemic that remote working is a good addition to working in the office. An internal survey showed what activities employees come to the office for; there was a need for more and different types of teamwork and meetings. Thus, we redesigned the first three floors with a workplace café and a variety of consultation areas. From spaces that will hold only two to an entire group of people, enclosed or open. But also a mini-lecture room with interconnected chairs for presentations.'
KEEPING IN MOTION
In terms of architectural design, De Unie Architecten broke the rhythm of the columns with two mezzanines. These were installed to create more spaciousness in the building and to connect the workplace café with the consultation areas. What had to be translated into the furniture was not only a hybrid working method, but also the transition to an office that encourages exercise and activity during a workday. Christa Paauwe, senior account manager at Gispen: 'In order to get a better idea of hybrid and dynamic working in practice, I visited the pop-up government office Terminal Noord with Milou and Caroline. This inspired them to put more focus on alternating between sitting and standing while working, conferring or consulting.'
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
Naturally, the furniture also had to match with the colourful look & feel that the interior designer created. Christa: 'By giving the walls and pillars a different colour on each floor, a challenge arose for the furniture. The interior designer wanted to achieve unity in diversity. We applied this principle to our furniture by, for example, matching the colours and upholstery of new and repurposed NOMI chairs to the particular colours of each floor. All 420 workstations are identical across all floors. The meeting areas and conference rooms have been finished in different shades of the main colour of their respective floor. This means that each floor has its own identity, but is still unmistakably 'CAK'.'
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE RESULT?
Caroline Dinkla of CAK: 'The result is stunning, from the flooring to the colour scheme, from the sit-stand desks to the individual workstations. It is an open, light, transparent and colourful environment. Staff members can decide for themselves which area of the office is the most practical, efficient and effective for the task at hand. They simply choose or reserve an area or workplace that is suitable for them. This new approach improves productivity, work-life balance and job satisfaction. Moreover, they can use the booking app to see who else is working in the office that day and where this colleague is located. This makes it easy for colleagues to find each other or reserve a workstation next to each other. The renovation has been received with great enthusiasm. It truly supports us in our new, hybrid working method.'
Photography: Chris van Koeverden
