Xplain Headquarters Hoofdkantoor

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Shaping the future of marketing by revolutionising the way marketers integrate brands into peoples lives, is the vision provided among key factors in daily operation, service standards and brand management in order to integrate them organically in the final design concept. The deliverable was to translate the vision of an artificial intelligence company with global clientele into a 500 sm spatial design, by overcoming location and the limitation of an existing building structure in order to motivate the teamwork to adjust operating in a more open and casual way.

Dimensions & Packaging

500 square meters expanding into four levels of an existing building structure. It had to be adapted in order to accomodate the functionalities of an office environment that has to be inspiring, thought motivating, stimulating in a way that data analysts and marketers are prompted to think out of the box, and bring to the foreground the childish nature that dwelves inside every professional without risking productivity and effectiveness.

Tags

Office, Workplace, Motivation, Challenging, Urban, Cheerful, Digital, Global, Marketing, Innovative, Consumer

Production Technology

Antigraffiti film technology, 3d printers, CNC machines, Ultra-durable and sustainable powder coating for metal surfaces. Custom wallpaper themes, environmental graphics , semi-transparent glass dividers, sound absorbing materials, led lighting and human centric lighting design. Colourful films cover the glass dividers creating an interesting interplay of semi transparency and the illusion of cityscapes. All the bathroom, desk accessories and utilities were custom designed and 3D printed. On the ground level there is a Manhattan aerial view 3D printed, while the element of different time zones and the absence of geographic barriers is introduced using two clocks on the first floor.

Design Challenge

Xplain operates globally, providing services in digital marketing and data analysis. The challenge was to meet tight timeframes, in data collection and analysis of the brand culture with a view to incorporating it organically into spatial design. For a brand that is customer and employee centered operating globally, has been key point to create a mutually challenging, innovative and joyful environment for all the stakeholders.
The fact also that the building was initially constructed to meet different needs, posed a quite difficult aspect since minimal alterations had to account for maximum efficiency and adaptation to different personalities. Research based on informal and formal data collection methods proved invaluable in order to meet the deliverables in terms of time, space and performamce measurements.

Research

Research in workplace environments and spatial design
trends were analysed in order to be able to define the contemporary
needs, ergonomics and aesthetics of a brand that follows a more contemporary approach in terms of advertising, marketing and social media presence. Teamwork, creativity, transparency, sharing and bonding are some of the key concepts revealed during the data collection semi-guided interviews with the co-founders and key position members of the brand.

Inspiration

The workplace environment has undergone rapid transformation. Without following the corporate bureaucratic model of the city as a working mechanism, or the city as a model without structure the proposal was inspired by workplaces that challenge the contemporary personality and become motivational for global team players.

Project Duration

January to September 2018, from research briefs and concept design to project realization.

Operation Flow

In a typical city model, structural steel and concrete have been for years the main building materials that construct architectural entities. Raw data, the internet of things and information technology has led to different urban theories.
A hypothesis informs the initial design concept, what if our
buildings were not constructed with structural steel and concrete but raw data, what would happen in a world that approaches everything from a different point of view.
Anti graffiti films were used to turn the walls to boards for note taking. The basement is informed by game theories in order to provide a relaxed and cozy atmosphere. A city scape is transformed at nighttime unleashing creativity, expressed by the custom graffiti wallpaper on 6-meter atrium wall. Concrete greys, green foliage and sky blues, alternate in layers in order to create different zones of working and orientation, while breaking the uniformity of spatial organization when applied to different ribbons extending from floor, wall to ceiling. Raw data and social media inform urban design for livable cities, that is the reason containers typologies were used to introduce the associations of global transportation. The high atrium is dominated by the X shaped lighting fixture, a 2.4 meter long aluminum box, using osram high flux led tape and Vecta stretch film to illuminate the atrium uniformly.

Image Credits

Louisa Nikolaidou Architectural Imaging