The changes in working habits brought about by digitalisation, which the pandemic has only hastened, are part of Price f(x)'s identity. The management and employees of Price f(x) use their offices primarily for meetings that stimulate creative dialogue. By their very nature, they are an open space for variable use, not subject to the stereotypes of work cubicles or traditional open space.
The main brief was to expand the core offices and provide an additional floor with maximum flexibility of use. Vertically connecting two floors tends to be problematic if the natural flow of the space is to be maintained. The two floors are tectonically connected by a structure composed of thousands of wooden pixels, which modulates the space around it and becomes its internal landmark. At the core of the structure is a new interior staircase and, for the more adventurous, a slide. Hidden inside the wooden cells are personal lockers, dressing rooms and function rooms, while the individual fragments organically create nooks designed for informal seating and public presentations.
The regular structure is also written into the universal light grid above the entire space, which functions as a screen that is controlled down to the individual pixels (LEDs). This is also projected onto the bar counter/display, which also functions as a reception desk. The lighting interface is not only a dominant feature of the interior spaces. The luminous ceiling is also projected outwards into the Karlin space, and cannot be missed in the night landscape.
The spaces function differently from the perspective of employees and visitors and differ in the first experience immediately upon entering. The day can be started with breakfast in the shared professional kitchen, which functions as an open bar. The lower floor is a meeting place, a relaxation area, as well as a conference room. The latter is multifunctional, a meeting room with a table for 50 people, but can be flexibly divided and, thanks to a mobile acoustic partition, can also be a filming studio.
The room can be divided into smaller units, either hot desk areas or smaller meeting rooms. In addition, presentation rooms are scattered around the floor with a range of uses from video conference rooms to informal open tiered amphitheatres equipped with a retractable screen, so finding a space to suit the meeting format is never a problem.
The entire floor can operate in conference room mode with cafe and dispersal areas. At the same time, the entire floor can be physically (sensually) divided. Transparent walls that can be made opaque, sliding panels that divide the space, as well as the controllable atmosphere of the rooms are used for this purpose.The largest space is a cafe with a shared kitchen and an interactive bar. It serves as an informal setting with tables, couches, armchairs, bar stools and chairs.
The conference room is equipped with a long table that can be divided into segments. The room itself can be separated by an acoustic sliding partition.The intermediate spaces function as a dispersal area with no prescribed use, with scattered seating and amphitheatres. Corridors are eliminated and replaced with, for example, a pass-through lounge area with a punching bag, pool table and hayracks.The only specific (enclosed) rooms are the focus rooms with capacities ranging from two to sixteen people.
Furniture has been carefully selected or custom designed. The aim was to create a spectrum of comfort to suit different ways of working. From upholstered armchairs and swing chairs, to tilting plastic chairs in the conference room, office chairs for long sessions, heavy and solid chairs at the cafe, tables and square cubes within the wooden structure.
- Interiors: Collcoll
- Photos: BoysPlayNice
- Words: Kristof Hanzlik