1000-year-old wood embedded in resin, hall lined with "black gold" or murals with lace - a visit to the new office of JLL in Warsaw Spire is a journey through the natural, historical and cultural treasures of Polish country. The author of this unusual arrangement is Danuta Barańska, creative director of Tétris Poland, who specializes in interior design in Design & Build model.
JLL office is one of the most interesting examples of including traditional designs into modern architecture. JLL is a global company, but it is also very strongly related to the local market. Creating their new headquarters, the company wanted to show its Polish identity - The survey of employees indicated that they would like to work in a space that brings to mind beauty of the Polish landscape, its flora and fauna, as well as the Polish symbols. In addition to the purely practical guidelines - like adjustable desks, soft furniture, sofas, stools or comfy chairs - our colleagues from JLL advised us to emphasize the unique qualities of our country - says Danuta Barańska of Tétris.
Tétris designed and delivered the whole interior of JLL in Warsaw Spire in the model Design & Build. On each floor there is 15 to 20 rooms of various sizes. These include small rooms to work in silence, creative rooms and rooms for internal meetings. Employees have at their disposal a large kitchen and a special place to relax.
- We decided to base the concept of the office on three polish aspects: nature, science and tradition - says Danuta Barańska of Tétris. You can see those influences in meeting rooms. Among those are rooms called Amber, Coal, Forest, Sea, Salt, Beach, Honey or Grain. Each room surprises with unprecedented finishing materials. The Coal room has walls lined with ore in the form of safe to use sinter slabs. One wall in the Forest room is made of natural moss. In the Amber room a transparent onyx imitates the precious stone, and in Salt room illuminated white quartzite shows the elaborate structure of the crystal.
There is plenty of unique finishing materials that complement Polish spirit of the space. One of them is a table made of 1000-year-old white oak, which looks like a log thrown out by the sea, filled up with sand, and now drenched in resin.
- It is important for Tétris to translate the character of the company, its values, and preferences of employees, into an architectural design of their office. Every day JLL welcomes in their office many clients from other countries, hence the idea of a strong exposure of Polish valuables in representative spaces - says Danuta Barańska of Tétris. It’s much subtler in kitchens and common areas, where we set on idyllic landscapes, with elements reminiscent of Polish nature. There are beautiful murals, wallpapers with pictures of meadows, ceiling panels in the shape of the wings of storks. An interesting theme is also lace. That pattern scrolls in the decoration of the walls (e.g. murals by Adam Jastrzebski), floors or in the elements of finishing.
From the operational point of view, it was vital to perform JLL office in the full Design & Build model. This means that both the design and construction works were carried out by a single company. Tétris was responsible for the delivery of works and coordination of all partners, as well as for compliance with the abiding regulations.
For the investor the biggest advantage of the Design & Build model is that a single entity is responsible for the quality, cost and timeliness. It is also a comfort for the architect, because having budget and scope outlined in advance they may focus exclusively on the design. The Warsaw office of JLL, as well as earlier projects delivered by Tétris, like Whirlpool or MMC, are examples of the full model Design & Build (architect and construction crews come from the contractor company). However, it is worth noting that the concept of integrated management of the project works just as well in collaboration with external architectural studios. An example of such implementation in recent months are new Warsaw office of EY and Wyborowa Pernod Ricard or the luxury apartments in Park Lane.