VOX Headquarters – Poznań
Bidermann+Wide was engaged by VOX, a European home furnishing brand, to design their headquarters located in Poznań, Poland.
Vox is a global company, a brand well-known not only in Poland. At the beginning of 2017, we received an ambitious challenge – to design the headquarters of the entire group, which consists of three companies. An important context was the fact that the new office is located in a building where once one of the first Vox showrooms was situated. Despite short deadlines given, we have eagerly taken up the challenge.
From the very beginning, we decided to implement a plan for the design, which will focus on employee experience. We wanted people to benefit from this project. That’s why we focused primarily on how to make the use of the building in 100% for VOX staff.
Profoundly exploring the subject, searching for aspects essential for the brand, we could not omit the philosophy of the company, which says: “Freedom begins at home”.
Therefore freedom has become a keyword on which we based our thinking about this space. The purpose of many finishing details is to release the employees potential. Such elements as, for example, cabinets for employees on which you can take notes, compartments in the corridors where you can sit down for a quick meeting and make notes on loose paper on the wall or magnetic walls in the marketing department. We have also designed many informal places, such as an air yoga exercise room, a 15-minute meeting room and even a bed where an employee can always relax with hers or his laptop and feel like at home.
One of the main objectives of the client was to integrate three teams of companies, previously working in various offices. We have analyzed hundreds of functional possibilities by creating a design that complies with our assumptions and investor’s guidelines. Working together along with the President and HR department, we spent many hours considering different scenarios for employees worksites, with an individual approach to each of them. We focused on the relations between people and between people and the building, taking under consideration relations on different levels: visual, auditory and emotional.
VOX is primarily a lifestyle. Everyday the brand shows to thousands of people around the world how to live more beautifully and more consciously. Therefore, our main goal was to create a functional office for 115 people in which they will feel like if they were at home. In the central space of the first floor, we have designed the “homelike living room”. A place where the guests can be invited to or work colleagues can meet for chats. Right next to it, there is a kitchen with a large table encouraging to spend time together. We used furniture from the Vox range to furnish the whole interior, to prove that it is perfect not only for homes but also for office area.
Designer: Bidermann+Wide
Design Team: Maciej Bidermann, Marta Fibich, Szymon Skrzypczak
Photography: Przemysław Turlej
