RocketWerkz Offices – Auckland
Unispace designed an intentional space to reflect the gaming industry at the RocketWerkz offices located in Auckland, New Zealand.
Gamification is at the heart of this “AAA studio” for one of the gaming industry’s most experimental entertainment studios.
Occupying the penthouse levels of Auckland’s premium CBD towers, global gaming/technology firm RocketWerkz, has created a ‘silicon valley’ type workplace. With a desire to break the mould, RocketWerkz CEO Dean Hall, gave our team a simple brief: to “[create] a workplace that positions us as one of the premier gaming studios in the world.”
The workplace is a gamified experience where exploration and key ‘decision-points’ alter your course through the floorplate. The design transports visitors to ‘another place’, a portal to a new world where fun and imagination reign supreme.
A rapid 18 second ascension up the 590-foot commercial tower brings visitors to the RocketWerkz entry portal. Consisting of three layers: a reflective-gloss black-out, geometric portal, clinical white ‘decompression’ chamber, and finally, a digital immersion room continues this sci-fi themed space.
Once inside the space station, the reminder of the studio is dedicated to optimised workspaces for developers, artists and technicians. This includes 24-hour streaming rooms, three fully isolated recording studios, a townhall and retreat spaces. A custom collaboration with Canadian supplier, Ombrae, generated a bespoke ‘ombre’-punched aluminium screen, using cutting-edge building cladding technology. The result, a never-before-seen dramatic feature screen to create the optimal lighting conditions for designers and technicians.
RocketWerkz’s Auckland headquarters are an excellent example of when pushing beyond the comfort zone can result in something truly unique and special.
This is a workplace that has to be seen to be believed.
Design: Unispace
Photography: David Straight