The Benjamin Tribes (Sheven Binyamin) headquarter office are intended
for 14 occupants and span
240 square meters. The offices are located in a very
popular and prime business-center in the center of Israel. The layout was
planned to accommodate a premium building company that caters to the business
sector (mainly offices and businesses).
The office layout is rectangular
and two of the perimeter walls are the building’s large screen windows act as
borders - a fact that fills the space with a lot of natural sunlight. Great emphasis in the planning was to
integrate the inviting and humane character of the company’s owner in the feel
one gets when visiting the space. A
display of the very high level of professionalism, accuracy in building abilities
and displaying some of the materials they often use in their work was also
important, although secondary. Visitors
to the office understand they are dealing with a building firm of the highest
levels that understands different building methods, material use and their
mixture and integration, and that precise results are a key standard in every
project.
The office entrance uses raw building materials to emphasise the fact
that you have arrived at a building contractor’s office. scaffolding metal rods
that are used when pouring concrete are laid out in square shape cover a wall
as decoration and building helmets are used as ornaments. Bare cinder blocks in varying depths and
widths create three dimensional display on an adjacent wall and are lit with spotlights to further
emphasise that very element. Other
elements include exposed concrete floors and a bare ceilings.
This project in close to my heart as an architect as I know the firm’s
owner very well. This enabled me to infuse the atmosphere and company’s DNA
into the sheer design of the project.
The owner is known for his generosity and the fact that he loves to host
guests for dinners and drinks often. This
was what guided me to place a large open bar/kitchen and living room/mingling
area in the center of the space - much like in a bar. This area is used as a kitchn to cook or heat
a lunch. Another very important use for
this space is as an informal space to meet and greet with clients and talk
business. Often times, deals take shape
in that very space prior to ever entering the office or meeting room. The dynamic layout of the office encourages
its’ occupants to work together on projects or assignments and use the open
spaces more frequently than cubicles or closed offices. The cubicles themselves
are of minimalistic design and enable a light feel for the employees that use
them. They are built of industrial materials
like varying types of wood, metal sheets etc. The ceilings in the spaces use
tin-cladding that was acidified and perforated by CNC and internally covered
with rock wool (that makes them acoustic). The vegetation construction creates
a natural “border” between the public spaces and the work area. It is made of
circular cast iron construction to which nets are welded, thus creating a kind
of planters that natural vegetation was planted in.