Ohpen Offices – Amsterdam
AIS designed an office to feel like home for employees at Ohpen in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Before tackling their office space, the Ohpen team first approached us with a conceptual brief to help them in redefining their ‘workplace’ as a concept. Seeking to shed the traditional notions of an office and instead create a place where work and life merge seamlessly together. Our design team then applied this contemporary and fluid workplace concept to their office space situated in the very heart of Amsterdam.
Ohpen are the creators of the worlds first cloud native banking platform and much like their core business objective; to provide modern banking technology to financial providers. They so too sought to create a new and dynamic workplace concept that would redefine the purpose and configuration of office space for their team.
The Ohpen team asked us to create a space where work and life balance are visible from the moment you arrive. The Ohpen branding cites a fresh, open and modern stance and overall the “freedom to create”. The AIS design team relished in this conceptual brief to go about creating a space that coupled balance, colour and openness to create an overall serene workplace experience.
Ohpen’s new workplace is located in three monument buildings, from Rokin 111 to 115, situated in the heart of Amsterdam. These buildings were to merge into one fluid office space. And we carried this out through the use of strong conceptual design features extended throughout.
Different zones for work and recreation were created to encourage interaction through socialisation. Guests and staff are greeted in an open and relaxed reception area. Natural light pours through the front façade which looks out onto The Rokin, while contemporary finishes of exposed concrete, stone and a corrugated metal clad reception desk juxtapose against a feature moss wall holding the Ohpen branding.
This space then opens out into a larger social space. In the mornings staff pass through reception and stop off in the large open plan kitchen for their morning coffee, crossing paths with colleagues on the way before making their way upstairs to the main work zone. The kitchen area spills onto a multifunctional dining and entertainment space which becomes a real hub of social activity during the day. Emulating Ohpen’s circular logo, rounded booths situated around perimeter of this space connect people together.
Each booth space is subtly divided by plants to balance privacy, while remaining open. This supports staff to collaborate and ideate while maintaining a level of independence. This space can host up to 200 people at a time, allowing for a range of events to take place extending to the wider public when required.
The upper floors are a mix of open plan workspaces and different sized meeting rooms. Smaller call pods and high bench workshop spaces cater for smaller groups and more private or quiet work requirements. This allows people in the space to touch down and connect to the task at hand away from the main work zone.
Technology played a vital part in enabling true freedom of movement throughout the entire office space. Working in close collaboration with the Ohpen tech team the office design enables their employees to be productive and engaged at all points throughout their space.
Throughout the space other design features carry on with embodiment of the Ohpen logo. This includes specialist joinery pieces inspired by cyclic movement that help to carry users throughout the space. Colour palette’s inspired by nature, including natural wood and marble stone finishes layer upon one another, embodying the sense of calm that the connection to nature evokes within us.
Design: AIS
Photography: Matt Clayton
