“It’s an unusual layout for an office building that nevertheless great advantages knows. Users do not look away from the organization, but are in constant contact with the spatial and social heart of it. This encourages encounter and engagement. The hall will thus also be a optimal spatial power: bridges, underpasses and stairs make sure you can wander and thus the space and the people in it from different perspectives can ever experience, “said architect Joost Ector. 

“By not only the entire hall is also air conditioned pavilions energy consumption to a minimum. Together with the choice of lightweight recyclable materials, an existing building as a base and boost for the environment that provides an exceptionally durable design. “

[from Dezeen]

Just in time for our earlier discussion on hotdesking, we’ve come across some images of Microsoft‘s Amsterdam headquarters. Designed by Sevil Peach and Veldhoen + Co., a leading activity-based workplace consulting firm, the office space has no assigned desks and no offices for senior employees. The office layout also gives the company a chance to actively show off the flexibility of their software in a working environment.

To enhance working collaboration, the design boasts a variety of types of work areas that include “teamwork benches, enclosed and semi-enclosed meeting rooms, open informal meeting areas, concentration booths, individual work carousels and work lounges.”

Beyond work, employees are also given opportunities to mix, mingle, and relax throughout the space using another set of office design parts; a coffee shop and indoor and outdoor staff dining, as well as relaxation zones and sleep pods. The coffee shop is located on the first floor, in an area designed to hold large numbers of employees to encourage interaction from entry-level employees to executives.

Employees are also given lockers in which to store personal belongings.

Microsoft, in a 2010 press release believes that the space has worked wonderfully. They note that the new style of working has given the following benefits:

• A 30% reduction in real estate costs
• Increased productivity
• Enhanced market reputation and ability to attract and retain top talent
• Increased employee mobility
• Benefits for the environment

What about employee resistance? Microsoft did not just spring the idea onto employees either. The design process took several years, included employee feedback, and was a natural step for the already mobile workforce. [For additional information on this process, read this interview]

Photography by Gary Turnbull, Harold Pareira