Office spaces for Apa Nova București

Authors’ Comment

The objective of the project was to design the workspaces for the Customer Service Department of Apa Nova Bucuresti – the water supplier of the city – in a building where the company inhabits another four floors united by the same design principle, which is the reconnection with nature. These existing floors, each linked to a certain department, are associated with a certain natural element (Vegetation / Earth / Stone / Wood) through the choice of materials, colour palette and textures.
The focus of the new office spaces lies upon the element of Water.
The aquatic theme is experienced firsthand through the presence of vegetation, which offers the floor a certain atmosphere, creating a pleasant working space and at the same time detaching the working areas from the circulation paths, visually and acoustically. The architectural language is deliberately reduced, resembling water presence by being a discrete feature.
The overall colour palette is narrowed: warm light grey and white furniture, sandy carpet and the dark appearance of the ceiling, perceived as a water surface on which float desaturated blue acoustic panels. They, together with the lighting features, guide you alongside open and closed working areas around the central core. Textures and colours are more vibrant in the enclosed spaces: the company’s turquoise brand colour mixes with felt upholstery and perforated oak-veneered acoustic panels.
Following the same principles of biophilic design as in the other office floors, the central core receives a rythm of animated nature-evoking panels: this time with water as the main theme, presented in all its physical phases.
The intention was thus to create a characteristic and enjoyable space which evokes nature in both direct and indirect manner, through its primordial element: water, which represents at the same time the main domain of the client’s activity.