BMI Offices – Quito

With sweeping views of one of Ecuador's largest urban green spaces, BMI's new offices were designed to optimize employee wellness with ample access to light and the outdoors in Quito.

Firm
  • Client BMI,
  • size 23,680 sqft
  • Year 2020
  • Location Quito, Ecuador,
  • Industry Insurance,
  • Contract Workplaces thoughtfully designed the offices for BMI, keeping in mind the close proximity to the largest urban green space in Quito, Ecuador.

    Located in front of the imposing La Carolina Park – one of the most important urban green spaces in Ecuador – the BMI Quito headquarters has 1,974 m² distributed over two floors with extensive views throughout its western façade. Taking the enhancing process of this privileged location, was one of the requirements that the client had when approaching the project. With this objective, our design team contemplates the location of the work stations and meeting areas on the perimeter of the plant; while the meeting rooms, meeting boxes and support services are located in the central area. The glass enclosures of the private offices and meeting rooms collaborates to create a diaphanous and transparent atmosphere that allows to bring part of that exterior space to the interior of the plant.

    This new distribution also managed to solve some of the problems that arose from the diagnosis obtained within our Workplace Strategy consultancy, from which, it was identified that previously the offices had an unfair distribution of their surface, with very few square meters per person in work areas and also with a shortage of collaborative and meeting spaces.

    The sober aesthetic that was adopted throughout the lay-out, added to the selected color palette, aimed to highlight the most representative areas. The light tones wood in the open spaces, the textures of the floors, the textiles and the details of the applied graphics, dialogue with each other, generating a bright and harmonious space.

    As an added value, it is worth mentioning the incorporation of the best state-of-the-art technology, both in the Board of Directors room and in the Presidency’s office. Both have a native CISCO video conferencing system that allows the management of different scenarios through a control button, touch screen and integration with the lighting system and curtains. While the Board room has audio and microphone amplification on the ceiling along with an interactive screen with a mobile stand, in the Presidency’s office the lighting system and curtains are fully integrated with the glass enclosure, which has smart glass technology. This makes it possible for the glass to change from transparent to translucent according to the selected scenario.

    In this way, Contract Workplaces has comprehensively covered this project, taking into account that the design of the space is functional to the work dynamics, the materiality of the project considers people’s well-being and technology is fully integrated into the experience.

    Design: Contract Workplaces
    Photography: Christian Falcony