They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky… the oddities of office design.
It’s the time of year when children, adults and even the office might get a bit of a spooky make-over. So, with Halloween round the corner, we thought we’d take a look at some of the stranger approaches that businesses have taken with their office design.
Google might have their slides but sometimes a little bit of quirk isn’t quite enough, so here are our top 5 offices that took eccentricity to a whole new level.
Saxo Bank – Copenhagen
This European banking firm decided to flip the perception of stuffy bankers on its head. Their Copenhagen HQ is filled with a collection of bold modern art to inspire visitors and staff, from the sculpture of a rather nervous child precariously perched on a diving board, or an unidentifiably hairy creature much like ‘Cousin It’, to agiant T-Rex skeleton and kneeling astronaut. The office space truly is a work of art, or at least a gallery to present it in.
Images courtesy of Office Snapshots
Bahnhof Office – Stockholm
A Swedish internet provider whose offices are more Bond villain than broadband! Built into a former anti-atomic shelter, the walls are natural granite, the meeting room looks like somewhere from Area 51 and is that a large hadron collider next to the photocopier?
Images courtesy of Office Snapshots
Inventionland – Pittsburgh
If you visited the offices of a company called Inventionland, who invent more than 2,000 items a year, you’d expect something a bit creative. What you’d actually find is a 70,000sqft office design based on 15 different sets! Pirate ships, a race track, a giant shoe house, caves; this office has it all! Unsurprisingly, their motto is, “The best work comes out of the spirit of play” and employees wear lab coats and are known as ‘Creationeers’. Fantastically barmy!
Images courtesy of Office Snapshots
Epic Systems – Wisconsin
With a name like Epic Systems, you’ve got a lot to live up to! Which probably explains why their headquarters are a sight to behold. Interestingly, their approach to combining a mix of quiet, closed-off areas and open collaborative areas is to give each employee a private office of their own and provide creatively themed open areas, like a huge auditorium, Indiana Jones hallway and even a treehouse meeting room, for group meetings and chance encounters!
Images courtesy of Office Snapshots
Goethe Institute – Barcelona
This cultural association promotes the study of the German language in 159 institutes across the globe. Their Barcelona office decided that they wanted to stand out with a rather unique design for their reception area. Artist Sebastien Neitsch designed an audio visual projection mapping system that transforms it into an interactive space, straight from the sci-fi movie Tron. We won’t pretend to understand the technicalities of it, but a suspended microphone picks up any sound and turns it into animated wall graphics, making it the most wonderfully weird office design we’ve ever seen!
Images courtesy of Creative Applications
Written by Helen Bartlett, Design Director
