Westpac Banking (Sydney) - DEGW

The objective of this design was to encourage intergration and communication. The large open stairwell centrally links all floors and there are 3 cafes to provide social areas as well as informal meeting areas.

BBC offices Salford - ID:SR

The new BBC office in salford uses a bold colour scheme as well as a variety of meeting booths which are are coloured internally to create individual meeting spaces within an open space.
I like the way employees can choose which coloured booth they would like to use - perhaps i could combine this idea with my research about reactive colour so that the colour of the booth changes colour as the meeting goes on to signify time passing or other factors.

Stained Glass

I was watching a documentary on the glass artist Brian Clarke who designs stained glass in an architectural way (he was once introduced by Cedric Price as "a person who colours in the holes that architects leave in their walls") and I thought I would look at some examples of stained glass.

Brian Clarke - Buxton thermal baths

This space is on the roof of a building but the atmosphere created through the colour and quality of light makes it feel as though it is under water.

Abin design studio - Imi Kolkata 

(I like how with this example the predominant colour of the room will change depending on the position of the sun - perhaps I could explore this idea)

Narcissus Quafliata - Kaohsi Ung Main Station

Although there are many colours all mixed together here, because of the large area which it covers there is still opportunity for creating different atmospheres in different areas.

Javier Senosiain - Nautilius House

This extremely organic structure uses smaller panes of glass - this reminds me of examples I have seen of bottles being re-used to make windows.

Macquarie Investment Bank, Sydney - Clive Wilkinson Architects

Using different shaped, coloured, and sized rooms for meetings and working means that the monotony of the workplace is avoided by experience of variation.

Interpolis Office Tilburg - Erik Veldhoen

This office space for Interpolis in Tilburg creates unique meeting rooms and work areas. After monitoring the work which went on in the company, Eric Veldhoen realised that less than a third of employees time was spent working at their individual desks. Therefore in this design there is only a very small area dedicated to private desk work (and for this reason the office only takes up half the space used by a similarly sized company) 
Members of staff are not allocated a particular space to work in but can choose which of the many and varied spaces would be most suitable for them to carry out their work.
There is a "clubhouse" area which consists of 10 unique meeting spaces, each designed by a different architect, which are flexible for different uses.
After this new design was put in place the company reported an increase in productivity by 20%.

Google Office Zurich - Camenzind Evolution

This office for Google in Zurich shows how an office space need not be serious and drab. Google is an extremely successful company - and perhaps keeping its staff happy and creative within working environments like this is a factor of its success. 

Reflective Stage

After a while with no entries here I will now start blogging for the reflective stage of the MA. I was pleased with the feedback from the exploratory stage so I'll keep working hard and hope for an equally positive outcome for this next stage!
In a meeting with our heads of year we discussed how I would move my project on and I made the decision that I would concentrate on the workplace (particularly office space) as the location for my project - not restaurants as I had decided at the end of the exploratory project (I decided that restaurants had been done to death...) so I have prepared a questionnaire to send to members of staff at the uni for some feedback on their office space:
1. What is the best feature of your current workplace?
2. What is the worst feature of your current workplace?
3. What are the main things you would change about your current workplace?
4. Would you like the opportunity to personalise your individual space within the workplace?
5. Would you prefer a separate area for eating/socialising or do you prefer to remain at your workstation?
I will report the answers once I have them!
In the mean time I will start looking at examples of office spaces which are inspiring to me.