Theresa Obermoser, Austrian-born, London-based designer and founder of TO Interior Design  has completed the three-year overhaul of a Renaissance-style building in Vienna where she also has offices. The result is Am Hof 8 Austria’s first private members club.

Her signature eclectic and internationally inspired style combines Scandinavian, Japanese and French design features. The same is true of Am Hof 8. Over nine floors, she has placed a basement nightclub, three restaurants, a shared work space, five hotel rooms, a rooftop terrace and even a few “secret rooms” to create a social retreat, a versatile home-away-from-home for both locals and visitors.

In this project, Obermoser is combining Vienna’s historical opulence and rich cultural heritage with contemporary trends and timeless features.

We especially like the upholstered seating throughout the project. There is a strict primness about them, yet the muted pastel colours lend them a delicious, opulent, by-gone-era feeling of grandiose spaces and wealthy patrons, classy speakeasies and shady deals.

The building, known today as Kattus Haus, is located on Vienna’s historic Am Hof square. The tallest local building of its time it was completed in 1508 and called High House.

Since 1857 it has been owned by the Kattus family whose first business in the building was a store operated by Johannes Kattus and trading in international delicacies including champagne, wine, coffee, tea, tropical fruits and caviar.

Fast forward to today when Johannes’s descendant and namesake Johannes Kattus, CEO of Kattus Beteiligungs GmbH, decided it was time to establish a modern gentlemen’s club in Vienna and to do that in the historical, Grade-III-listed Kattus building.

Open to all genders and age groups, Am Hof 8 is a mix of styles and eras that aims to feel new to the Viennese members, and decidedly Viennese to international members. A tall order that is achieved, for example, through indirect nods to Viennese favourites such as Vienna’s finest greenhouse, the Grosses Palmenhaus Schönbrunn,  https://www.bundesgaerten.at/schlosspark-schoenbrunn/das-grosse-palmenhaus.html and through the use of various colour and décor schemes in each space.  Tuija Seipell

Images by Vigo Jansons

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Hong Kong-based interior design firm Lim + LU founders Elaine Lu and Vince Lim received a dream assignment from their friends: to design an office space that would accommodate three generations working together in a home-like environment. The client wanted a functional office yet wished to avoid the cold and boring office vibe.

The 300 square-metre (3,229 sq.ft) space exudes elegant simplicity. The designers achieved a sense of relaxed harmony through the use of an extremely limited colour palette and by emphasizing the detailing of each piece.

The entire space and all of its components are in pastel cream and sand hues with only selected lighting, door frames and handles, office chairs and small details in black giving the space structure.

The materials, from wood slats and marble to rattan and gently textured upholstery, emphasize the residential atmosphere while managing to avoid anything that seems too domestic or prim.

A large custom-created Viola Marble boardroom table is surrounded by wood-frame upholstered bar stools. The same dramatic marble adorns the backsplashes in the kitchen and cabinet tops in the office.

Mid-century modernist furniture adds to the timelessness as do the rattan cabinetry and wooden slats. Sliding glass partitions are used to enlarge and decrease the spaces based on the family’s needs.

We particularly like the sense of welcoming calm, created by how the narrow entry corridor flanked by wooden slats opens up to the small seating group in the lounge. Tuija Seipell

Images Common Studio

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Polish-born, Abu Dhabi-based designer Agata Kurzela  has completed an impressive refurbishment of a 1908 heritage building in Abu Dhabi’s historic Khor Al Maqta district.

In the last 20 or so years, the Emirate has transformed into a Middle Eastern hub for contemporary design and culture.

The reconfiguration of this government office into a 2,500 square-metre (26,910 sq.ft) multi-functional space continues this tradition by pushing toward contemporary design but without tarnishing the historical relevance of the building.

This is very much in keeping with the multiple award-winning Kurzela’s ethos of focusing on intelligent and creative use of space, and by highlighting the tactility of materials. She combines the latest technology and sensibilities with ancient methods and style.

In the government office project, Kurzela first peeled back several layers of old materials, partitions and dividers to uncover the original structure of the building. To create the decidedly new iteration, she used every part of the existing building and increased its functionality by adding mezzanines and functional platforms that connect via staircases, and by creating separate pods and enclosed rooms with curved walls, all free-standing within the larger spaces.

The various functions of the new configuration include private offices, flexible workspace areas, exhibition space, separate prayer rooms for women and men, plus stunningly cool bathrooms. Indeed, we love the futuristic bathrooms with their monolithic backsplashes sporting astonishing, locally made mirrors of translucent, opaque and reflective surfaces.

In all, Kurzela aimed to create a complex that is forward-looking yet rooted in Emirati heritage. She used traditional materials such as rough plaster and woven palm mats known as khoos safeefah, and then juxtaposed those with sleek patinated-steel walls and suspended steel chain curtains that form the men’s prayer room.

The desert-inspired sand-hued colour palette calms the space while also evoking the ancient history of the area. Kurzela used local creatives, craftspeople and artisans where-ever possible, further emphasizing the creativity and modernity of the thinking behind the renovation, but doing it in a tradition-respecting manner.

To leave the original ceiling intact, Kurzela had all of the air conditioning ducts inside free-standing columns that appear futuristic and ominous while doing the job perfectly.

Agata Kurzela studied architecture and master planning at the Technical University Gdansk in Poland. Since then, she worked on projects in Paris, London, Saudi Arabia and Oman as senior architect and designer with several well-known studios, including Zaha Hadid.

Now permanently in the Middle East, she launched her own studio in 2020 becoming the go-to architect and designer for prominent and forward-looking projects, including hotels, residential villas and offices. She has also been involved in a massive urban development project and designed the Royal Lounge at Formula One in Abu Dhabi.

The Khor Al Maqta district of Abu Dhabi is known for its great views of the Grand Canal (khor) and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and for its luxury hotels, restaurants and the Souk Qaryat Al Beri shopping complex that part of the Shangri-la hotel compound. Tuija Seipell

Images by Sebastian Böttcher

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We have written much about offices in our two decades of existence and spotted many excellent examples. While we know that a super-cool environment is not an option for all, so much more can be done without breaking the bank or going overboard. We bet there is a lot that could be done in YOUR office, if only you decided to make it happen. So, now, if ever, is the time to refuse bad offices and to contribute to creating better work environments.

Amsterdam-based Framework Studio created an office for a family business that is based on an idea that many can adopt and adapt: an office that looks more like a home or an art gallery than an office.

On the second floor of an early 1900s building in the city centre, the 220-square-metre (2,368 sq.ft) space consists of four offices and a meeting room. The gorgeous original wooden floors were restored and they, together with the new French oak wood panelling throughout, link the rooms visually to each other.

The client is a young art collector, so it was natural that the spaces would be accented with art and distinctive hand-picked pieces of furniture and furnishings, something the design studio’s multinational teams are known for. We have, for example, written about the home Framework Studio owner Thomas Geerlings created for his own family in Amsterdam. Singular pieces of art and furniture accent it as well.

In this exceptional office, abstract plaster sculptures by Dutch artist Florian Tomballe are juxtaposed among vintage furniture pieces and abstract wall art by artists such as Lucas Hardonk.

Compact, white arm chairs designed in 1968 by the late Italian designer, artist and musician Luciano Frigerio create an intimate seating group with the tiny DC516 side table by Vincenzo De Cotiis

Another vignette is created by a Pierre Jeanneret King chair set next to a Poltrona Frau Trust desk topped by the alabaster Lampe Athéna table lamp designed in 2012 by Hervé van der Streaten.

Another angular Pierre Jeanneret chair flanks an elongated lozenge-shaped custom brass desk from the New York-based Patrick Parrish Gallery in front of the stunning Glustin Luminaires Creation brass floor lamp with an alabaster globe by Galerie Glustin in Paris. Tuija Seipell

Photography by Kasia Gatkowska

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Designed in 2013-2015 but completed only recently, the INES Innovation Center at University of the Bio Bio’s Collao Campus is just as impressive and delightful now as it was when originally conceived. The local, Concepción-based art and architecture studio Pezo von Ellrichshausen has created a wood structure that bears many of the hallmarks of the studio’s work, most notably the blocky exterior of the structure combined with the interconnectedness that dominates the interior.

Created for the University of Bio Bio (UBB – Universidad del Bio-Bio) for its main Concepción campus where engineering, business and architecture faculties operate, INES is part of the university’s innovation-focused activities.

The blocky five-storey cube is 2,000 square metres (21,528 sq.ft) in size and as it stands on its wooden base it looks as if it could be easily picked up, turned upside down, and it would still look exactly the same. It’s a friendly-looking structure with a slightly ancient, Japanese vibe.

Inside, the five floors are interconnected via a central circular void that diminishes in size fas you go higher from bottom to top. Leaning on the railings you can see all levels yet you are separated from them. Looking up, you see a target-like set of rings that ends with a round skylight. Each floor has its own set of working areas for meetings or individual work with flexible, light-weight furnishings for maximum flexibility. Having a clear goal, connecting disparate but relevant points and being flexible are all at the very heart of innovation. The INES structure seems to speak the language of innovation fluently. The sparse material and colour palette gives the building a solid, harmonious feel.

Pezo von Ellrichshausen is an art and architecture studio established in 2002 by Chilean Mauricio Pezo and Argentinian Sofia von Ellrichshausen. They were known initially for their innovative residential projects including their own first home and studio Cien House — a small, white, five-storey concrete tower on a plinth clinging to a mountainside in Lo Pequeñ, Concepción.

Their projects often start with full-colour paintings, renderings and sketches that inspire and instruct the designers and their clients. They are now known globally for their innovative work and, for example, their paintings of Cien House are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Tuija Seipell

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While no longer new – it was completed in 2017 – the Portland, Oregon, office of Expensify is still one of our favourite office reconfigurations.

It features several of our preferred aspects. It is a smart re-purposing project; the space has incredible height and volume, the re-design has not added unnecessary elements or blocked the natural light.

While not as sexy as De Waterhond in Belgium, Expensify’s office expresses a similar idea: To leave the original structure as intact as possible and build separate structures inside to meet the occupants’ needs.

In the case of Expensify’s office, the design team at ZGF Architects transferred the historical First National Bank Building, a downtown Portland landmark built in 1916, into a sky-lit, four-story open-plan atrium of flexible working space by using floating metal-frame boxes and natural wood structures.

Custom-designed and built on-site by Pure + FreeForm, an architectural metal design studio, the metal and glass structures perch high up in and provide full views of the atrium. A row of small wooden “houses” are lined up along an upper corridor, fully visible from the atrium but providing privacy when needed.

Inspired by treehouses seen during Expensify’s teams offshoring trips to Cambodia, tables and chairs are perched on top of the metal-framed boxes providing yet another working area that is in full view of the surroundings but private at the same time.

The 683 square-metre (7,352 sq.ft) Portland office is one of five main offices of the expense management firm. The others are located in  San Francisco, California; Ironwood, Michigan; Melbourne, Australia and London, UK. Tuija Seipell.

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Close your eyes and think of what a school admin office from the 70s/80s might look like – if you can remember that far back or have seen TV series or movies from that era.

Whatever you method of recall, we are fairly certain that the images you envision are not pretty. It’s something worn out and echo-y, ugly, faded bright colours or worse, subdued and faded beiges, greens and blues, and other colours that cannot be defined. Graffiti on the tired walls that have been kicked and bumped by generations, and sad furniture ready for the dumpster. Closed doors, dark and uninviting corridors.

When you then compare these visions with the images of the Piazza Dell Ufficio (Italian for plaza of the office) school administration office renovation of Caroline Chisholm Catholic College in Melbourne’s Braybrook neighbourhood, you’d almost like to go back to school.

Knowing they were looking at a project in need of serious intervention, Brunswick, Australia-based Branch Studio Architects got to work on the 275 square-metre (2,960 sq. ft) space, frozen in time circa 1970, and ended up changing absolutely everything.

They imagined an open and inviting space where staff, teachers and students would actually like to work and interact and hang out.

Taking a popular approach in design, Branch Studios team imagined an Italian piazza that acts as a draw and a gathering place that is often created around a monument, statue or a big tree.

They created a central focus, a ‘clock tower’ and positioned the offices in the periphery of the open space. They broke the cubicle mold and created flexible spaces that could function as individual offices, meeting areas, shared workspace and hot desks.

The clock tower is a curved gazebo with a small table inside that resembles a clock face, surrounded by an upholstered circular bench. Further following the Italian theme, they created porticos and arched entryways while leaving as much open to the central piazza as possible. Natural light is flowing throughout the space that now looks about twice the size it did before.

The dominating, fun aspect of the project is the extensive use of inexpensive cardboard tubes that brings to mind Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s emergency shelters and art installations made of similar tubes.

We love the subdued colour palette and the fact that the office looks so decidedly grown-up and elegant. We imagine the staff and students walking in to this space feeling more appreciated and proud. Efficiency and new ways of working will also be likely results from this newly reconfigured environment. Tuija Seipell.

Photography by Peter Clarke

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Coworking spaces have grown up. Gone are the stereotypical – and therefore utterly boring – beanbag, pool table and cereal bar infested startup hubs and in their place, we are starting to see some real variety, elegance and grown-up working environments.

Many coworking spaces now offer startups and other entrepreneurs learning opportunities, entrepreneurial and personal assistance and resources and recreational options. They are also social clubs, becoming in essence a current version of the gentlemen’s club where those were excluded who didn’t qualify, where important introductions and connections were made, lessons learned, information passed on and good times had.

In London, Huckletree has created its fifth London co-working space for 250 members. This one is focused specifically on GovTech, bringing together a community of startups, investors and innovators transforming public services. It is called PUBLIC Hall and it was created in partnership with a leading GovTech venture firm PUBLIC that is also behind the annual GovTech Summit taking place this year in Paris on November 14^th.

We love that the designers at London-based Sella Concept have retained the grandeur of the French renaissance-inspired, Grade II heritage-listed building that was built in 1884 in Westminster. The 2,000 square metre (21,527 sq. ft) space carries the ornate ceiling moulding, wood flooring, chandeliers and plush furniture as if everything had always been that way, yet it all feels modern and classy.

The elegant “old” muted greens and blues on the walls contrast perfectly with the white ceilings and wooden floors and give definition to each space. The wall colour gets more intense in the basement where the checkered black-and-white floor ads period-appropriate pop while giving a nod to the Huckletree black-and-white design aesthetic. Tuija Seipell.

Photography: Genevieve Lutkin

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As retail has changed dramatically over those years, so have the requirements of how and where the company’s executives, buyers and merchandisers work. The company’s head office, in the Selfridges building on Duke Street, has now, after two years of overhaul, emerged in a completely new form.

To re-think the 19,700 square-foot (1,830 sq. ft) office space, Selfridges hired its go-to architect Alex Cochrane. Cochrane’s office has designed, for example, Selfridges Men’s Designer Floors and Personal Shopping areas, as well as the world’s largest eyewear department in Selfridges new Accessories Hall.

The new offices focus on maximizing flexibility and encouraging cooperation between the various departments. No-one has a permanent spot among the 125 works stations as everyone gathers their belongings at the end of the work day and stores them in their personal locker. In the buying and merchandising area this makes particularly perfect sense as most of the team members in this group have very busy travel schedules, are used to nomadic life and don’t require a permanent office.

Separate, more enclosed areas exist in the form of pink-glass phone booths and sound-proofed blue-fabric-paneled meeting booths that can also double as quiet offices.

Of course, there are the obligatory playroom, kitchen, lounge and outside terrace, all encouraging teams to spend unstructured time together.

Much attention was paid to sustainable design elements as well. Renewable wood paneling, solar panels, local, reused and reusable, as well as green certified materials were prioritized.

 Kitchen counters and benches are made of boards of compressed recycled paper, and acoustic wall-linings and seating are structured of boards made of recycled plastic and bottle tops. Discarded building boards were re-coated and re-used, and floor surfaces were made from 97 per cent raw and natural materials.

 The meeting room acoustic paneling is made from 100 per cent renewable and discarded wood, all lighting is low energy, and kitchen appliances and AV monitors were selected for their A+ rating.

This great new playground matches the working style of the company’s head office teams of today perfectly. We can only imagine what the first Selfridges head office looked like 111 years ago, but it is safe to assume that with its dark paneling and heavy leather chairs it matched the working style of that day just as well. Change is good. Tuija Seipell.

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There is no millennial pink nor other feminine pastels in the Tribeca, New York City clubhouse of female executives’ private network, Chief. 

Instead, New York-based designers Amy Butchko and Adrienne Laube of The Springs Collective selected mid-century modernist and slightly more recent pieces to furnish the rooms that collectively read like an opulent but not overly lavish home.

Men’s club staples of dark walls, rich reds and greens, and velvet and leather seating are offset with lush house plants and numerous rugs, large windows and small seating areas. The ambiance is inviting but not overly homey.

Chief is a private network of women in power positions or on their way to them.

Chief cofounders are Lindsay Kaplan, former VP of communications at mattress startup Casper, and Carolyn Childers, formerly SVP of operations at digital home services marketplace, Handy.

Early this year, they started Chief with $3 million in seed fund round led by Primary Venture Capital and Flybridge Capital Partners.

Chief clubhouse is not a co-working space or a social or fitness club, it is a space for executives to relax, exchange ideas and make connections with other members in similar positions.

In addition to the clubhouse, Chief’s current components include, for example, mentorship, a digital network and monthly lectures. The founders describe the services as “executive coaching on steroids.”   

At the time of founding, Chief stated simply that “At the current rate of change, it will take over 200 years for women to reach parity in business. We are not waiting eight generations.”

The statement refers to the recent World Economic Forum announcement that women still earn only 51 percent as much as men, and that round the globe women will achieve “economic gender parity” in 200 years.

Membership fees at Chief start at $5,400 for VP level members and $7,800 for C-suite level.  At the time of the initial founding announcement in January, Chief already had a 3,000 person waiting list.

Executives from Amazon, American Express, Cartier, Google, Instagram, Johnson & Johnson, Spotify, The Wall Street Journal, Verison and WeWork are already on board.  Tuija Seipell.

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