Office Transformed to Make Room for People at HOLMRIS B8
HOLMRIS B8 helps customers every day to create room for people – spaces that are full of personality and that embrace diversity. Inspired by its work for other companies, HOLMRIS B8 has now transformed its Copenhagen office.
“Over a period of a couple of years, we went from around 50 people working from our office in Copenhagen to maybe a maximum of 10 at any given time. Our office was full of empty desks and didn’t flow well. So the challenge was to create a workplace that renewed our employees’ desire to work from the office instead of from home,” says Jesper Nicolaisen, Head of Strategic Partnerships at HOLMRIS B8.
A Fresh Perspective Needed
To do this, the management had to turn the situation on its head and take a whole new approach to creating a vibrant, efficient workspace with a sense of community. Thanks to its work with a range of designers and customers struggling with the same issues, HOLMRIS B8 knows that the activity-based workplace is the future.
“The aim is to design a workplace comprising different zones where employees can sit as needed – such as quiet zones, team zones, coffee islands, meeting zones and so on. We believe all workplaces are heading in this direction – and that’s why we decided to walk the talk,” explains Jesper Nicolaisen, who continues:
“We chose to drop 16 of the 50 workstations. And we’ve placed a “heart room” at the center of the office where people can take a break, have informal meetings, or work for brief periods of time. There are also meeting rooms and zones designed for concentration. To get a fresh perspective, we choose to hire some talented interior designers to create a coherent design solution.”
The installation Continuum is kindly on loan from Naja Utzon Popov (picutre 1+2)
The Interior Design Supports the Work
Sarah Müllertz, interior designer at SarahLou, explains how she created a coherent concept for the Copenhagen office.
“Nobody sits at their desk for eight hours straight anymore, so the goal is to design the space to support the way people work today. For instance, the “heart room” in the center is the pulse of the office, fitted out with comfy furniture that winds through the space, combined with a large community table that encourages a flexible workday. The office is situated in an old part of Copenhagen, and this is reflected in the colors and textiles chosen for the space – at the same time, the area can act as a canvas, allowing HOLMRIS B8 to regularly change the look and serving as a showroom of sorts.”
She adds:
“In other areas of the office, people need private spaces where they can concentrate – here, we decorated the walls a calm gray and added greenery and good lighting. In contrast, there are also areas with an open-plan layout, allowing, say, the sales staff to talk throughout the day. In this way, space has been created for working in many different ways throughout the day.”
Stronger Sense of Community
So how does the newly designed workplace function in practice?
“It’s clear that many more people are coming in to the office than previously. And the atmosphere and culture at the office have improved. Now, more colleagues are present, and that is crucial for creating a good atmosphere and boosting the desire to work from the office,” says Jesper Nicolaisen.
Christine Lauth, Head of Marketing at HOLMRIS B8, works out of the Copenhagen office and agrees wholeheartedly:
“The transformation has created a whole new atmosphere and has definitely strengthened our sense of community. We can really feel how the spaces support our work throughout the day – such as creative meetings in the comfortable furniture. Now we have a place where we can get together, but we also have a cool place to host events and invite customers and partners to visit – a place where our visitors can get a sense of the HOLMRIS B8 DNA.”
