Better Office, workplace design, Copenhagen

Working with the client’s ’corporate’ theme, PLH has designed an exclusive office hotel in central Copenhagen featuring high-quality designer furnishings in informal surroundings. Better Office provides an alternative workplace for multiple companies brought together in a co-working office hotel.

Category

Workplace design

Location

Copenhagen, Denmark

Year

2018

Status

Completed

Client(s)

Better Office

'Corporate' co-working
PLH has designed one floor of ‘Better Office,’ a new co-working showroom for the Danish contract furniture company, Better Copenhagen. The office hotel, located in the city center, is comprised of 3 stories, each with designated themes and commissioned to different architectural practices. The premise of the Better Office concept is to provide an alternative workplace for small and medium-sized companies in an optimally planned co-working facility. In addition to co-working features aimed at different types of businesses, the office hotel also offers a range of other amenities including a café, hotel, dry-cleaning and tailor service, child-care facilities, hairdresser, masseuse and gym.

Exclusive, open and welcoming
Working with the Client’s ‘corporate’ design theme, PLH has created an environment targeted to employees and management of larger companies and their VIP guests. The objective was to provide intended users with a convenient and attractive alternative for holding informal meetings or as an extension of their official workplace.

Using high quality materials and high-end furniture, PLH has focused on creating an exclusive atmosphere that is both open and welcoming. Variation and flexibility are fundamental to creating a good working environment, and the 'corporate' zone is therefore planned with business lounge, open workplaces, meeting rooms of varying sizes and closed office for reflective work. This allows flexibility for a wide range of activities, from casual coffee meetings, team meetings and workshops, to evening events.

Homey atmosphere
At PLH we work methodically with colors, texture and diversity in our interiors. No two projects are ever the same, and our approach is to always develop a unique concept that will result in a new and innovative interior design. PLH's concept for Better Copenhagen emphasizes the elegant, timeless design indicative of contemporary Nordic office environments. By the same token we have focused on bringing a homey, informal atmosphere to the corporate working environment.

Greater work-life balance and improved job satisfaction

One of PLH’s defining core competencies is the planning and design of work environments for leading Danish and global clients. The guiding principle for each of these projects is to improve the quality of life for the end users of our buildings, and this philosophy is mirrored in Better Copenhagen’s vision to provide greater work-life balance and improved wellbeing in the daily lives of its users.

The corporate environment that PLH has designed, especially in the lounge and meeting room, is one of the areas that we get very good feedback on from users. We are very pleased with our collaboration with PLH - the design of the ‘corporate’ environment plays a big role in the success of Better Office today.

- Ulrick Bloch Nielsen, Managing Director and Co-owner, Better Cph.

The boundaries between work and leisure have become more fluid over time, and making the workplace homier and more familiar is a trend we are working hard with. At the moment our general tendency is to disregard the slightly stiff, corporate identity that many larger companies previously wished to project. Instead, we are creating cosy, intimate atmospheres by using plants, flower arrangements, books and ambient lighting etc. In Better Office we have placed candles in the windowsills for example, and have chosen to use carpeting in familiar classic patterns that you would typically find in someone’s home. It's been fun to be allowed - from scratch - to create an exclusive co-working environment with the additional dimension of quality.

- Bine Soelberg, Associate, Interior & Spatial Design, PLH Arkitekter

We know fra user surveys that the space planning and workplace design of PLH significantly improve the quality of the work environment. Eg. by decreasing sick leave, increased productivity and creating a high level of satisfaction and feeling of well-being among the employees” Bine says. ”That is why we have been extremly happy to take part of this project. The fact that Better Copenhagen has chosen us to design the area ’corporate’ has given us the opportunity to do exactly what we do best.

- Bine Soelberg, space designer, PLH Arkitekter