OFFICE BUILDINGS

Dear Readers,

the concept presented by Stuttgart-based creative agency Designplus as one of the many messages in their moveable room concept (photo on the left) on the occasion of the Euroshop trade fair in Düsseldorf could serve as a keyword for the strong trend in the office industry. When hearing “Together we are strong!” I immediately think of a merry-colourful open-plan office where countless people potter around at various workplaces. We could have filled this entire AIT issue on offices with co-working spaces – which seem to spring up like mushrooms all over the world. Don’t worry, we have selected only a few but very exceptional ones and complemented them with no less strongly designed office spaces of diverse provenance (p. 92). Besides nomadic working, which certainly has its justification, there still is the necessity of and the need for an accustomed and familiar working environment. Cologne-based interior designer Monika Lepel addressed the question of what the balancing act between the old deskfocused sedentarism and modern office nomadism can look like (p. 134) and comes to the conclusion that office rituals which are transformed into interior design can give people in offices a home. The issue of sound protection is of increasing importance in open-plan working spaces. As from page 74 we inform you about acoustic innovations and what else you can use to furnish your office interiors. Of course, we also report on Euroshop, the world’s leading retail trade fair (p. 32) and show you the most exciting presentations, which also include the trade fair stand of Designplus. We had the opportunity to collaborate with an architect and master of brand staging for many years to distinguish Germany’s best interior designers in the scope of the INsider Award every year (p. 14). Professor Klaus Schmidhuber has substantially support us as patron for eight years, and in the festive context of the INsider Award ceremony we together with many interior designers had the opportunity to express our thanks!

Best wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect