Step Inside This Hospitality-Focused Polish Office By MIXD

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Chair of the Month

Emma Weckerling
Emma Weckerling
Emma is the Former Managing Editor of Work Design Magazine.

MIXD created a hospitality-focused space for intive that encourages individualism, sharing experiences, and strengthening relationships within the Polish technology company. Take a tour with us!

Specializers of hotel design, MIXD based their design of the intive offices in Wroclaw, Poland on the concept of hospitality. The space features empathy, respect for individualism, fun and sharing experiences throughout its design. The office evokes positive emotions, strengthens relationships between employees, and creates a great work environment.

The MIXD designers focused on a diverse, flexible space, with a powerful “cool factor”, allowing young programmers to identify with space. They also enlarged and opened up shared office spaces to give numerous teams the opportunity to meet, talk, and spend time together. They also invited a group of intive employees to take part in Culture Club® workshops, allowing them to share their ideas for organizing the office.

The cozy vibe of intive’s offices is manifested by the use of wood, upholstered furniture, and colorful accents. Two principles were key – first, to use resimercial elements and secondly, to work with Polish and Wroclaw-based companies and suppliers to keep the project sustainable and support local business. MIXD also focused on the acoustic comfort of the office – hence the many sound-absorbing elements such as rugs, carpets, wood/wool ceiling panels, upholstered seats, and felt lamps.

When was the project completed? 

September 2019

How many SF per person?

It’s about 105 sqft per person

How many employees work here?

Team of 450 people is expected to work there.

Describe the work space type.

Open plan

What kind of meeting spaces are provided?

The space has an extensive cafeteria and meeting space – perfect for informal meetings, short briefings, brainstorming, but also allowing a large crew to get to know each other better during breaks at work or meals. There is a ‘playroom’ that can be used for workshops in large groups, integration activities or simply relaxation, and conference rooms – for official meetings with clients, presentation of confidential projects or recruitment interviews.

What is the projects location and proximity to public transportation and/or other amenities?

Office is located in a new building in the city center, it occupies two floors. There is a bus and tram stops on the street and underground public parking very near. The office is well connected with various parts of the city, and after work, employees can easily do various errands in the center, do shopping or meet friends in numerous cafes or restaurants.

Were any pre-planning surveys conducted to get employee input?

Together with a group of employees, we conducted our original Culture Club™ research workshops, which allow us to learn about their needs and expectations regarding the workspace.

Culture Club™ – a kind of creative workshop with a group of employees from a given company – which is very useful during the first project stage called agile planning. It is all about gathering the maximum amount of information about the client’s expectations, needs, requirements, and getting to know the idiosyncrasy of their organization.

Were there any special or unusual construction materials or techniques employed in the project?

MIXD used many soundproofing elements in the intive office, including carpets. We really wanted to achieve the effect of home comfort, but we did not want to use fashionable carpets with oriental patterns, as we did not want it to feel like a modern office space. That is why we designed our own carpet patterns in which we have pixelated the rich Persian motifs – as suits the interior of a tech company.

For specific examples, please describe the product, how it was used, and if it solved any specific problem.

The results of a pre-design survey with intive employees encouraged us to focus on the acoustic comfort of the office – hence many sound-absorbing elements such as rugs, carpets, wood wool ceiling panels, upholstered seats, cushions, and pressed felt lamps.

Another characteristic element of the intive office are seating places located in padded niches, located along the entire length of numerous corridors. Thanks to their arrangement in front of the internal windows, it was possible to provide natural light and visually “open” the corridors. The recesses are a place where you can hide alone with a laptop or talk on the phone – it is a space of intimacy so important in the workplace.

What products or service solutions are making the biggest impact in your space?

Bakata Design – project coordination, fit out

Fameg – cafeteria chairs

Paged – side chairs, cafeteria chairs

366 Concept – armchairs

Newmor – bespoke carpets

What kind of branding elements were incorporated into the design?

Branding is introduced very discreetly, only in a few places the company’s logo appears: among others in reception.

What is the most unique feature of the space?

The murals of local artist Łukasz Kulikowski appearing in various rooms which refer to free time. They remind us of pleasant experiences and passions – equally as important for young people as work: meals in restaurants, sports, concerts, clubbing, hiking, meeting with friends for drink in local bar.

Are there any furnishings or spaces specifically included to promote wellness/wellbeing?

Lamps and lighting systems were carefully selected for the color and light intensity. Some also have special sound-absorbing functions – this supports the fight against noise – one of the most frequently indicated disturbances in the office space. Living plants are an important element in the intive office. Instead of expensive and difficult to care for green walls, open shelves and stands were used where you can place single pots. Because of this, each employee can have their very own office plant.

Is there anything else that would help us tell the story of this project?

“People are at the heart of our company. Without them, we would only have empty chairs in our offices, and the products we create would not have users. ” – these are the words of Ludovic Gaude, the founder of intive. No wonder that for the investor, the well-being of employees, creating a space for the realization of their passion and expression of personality, was more important than the design “fireworks”.

It took us only about three months to create the concept – the work was carried out very quickly, in two to three week stages. This way of working is the Design Cycles® method used by MIXD – a agile design process that is divided into three cycles. After that, the MIXD designer, as a design manager, supervised the entire process of equipment and assembly – floors, ceilings, lighting, murals, fixed and movable furniture.

Who else contributed significantly to this project?

MIXD interior design team: Piotr Kalinowski, Katarzyna Majer-Hola, Paweł Panek, Agnieszka Kaczara, Alicja Dziedziela www.mixd.io

Contractor: Bakata Design

Furniture suppliers:

Fameg

Paged

366 Concept

Newmor (customized carpets)

Łukasz Kulikowski – murals

All photos: Studio Pion / Mariola Żoładź Photography

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