Sberbank Offices Building E
A trendsetting workplace concept that moves a traditionally working bank to an agile and staff-focused organisation.
The agile and activity-based workplace concept was first introduced in the office building E that became a trendsetting example for all other buildings that are part of SberCity, Sberbank’s campus in Moscow.
PROJECT BRIEF
The main part of the brief was designing flexible workspaces that would allow for creation of adaptable cross-functional teams. As the size of each team may vary depending on individual projects, the workspaces need to be easily adapted to suit the required number of participants.
Another challenge facing the design team was the scale and labyrinth layout of the building. Each floor is 7,500 square meters large and accommodates approx. 650 people. Originally designed to house apartments, floors were divided into many compartments – a solution that met fire regulations, but did not meet the needs of a modern open office or enable the free flow of people in the space.
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Location
Kutuzovsky Avenue 32
Moscow, Russian Federation
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Client
SBER Bank
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Net floor area
24.000 m2
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Project started01.2017
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Project completed12.2017
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Awards
SMART DESIGN SOLUTIONS
Evolution Design divided each floor into four main zones, which share a central communication hub at the heart of the office. The hub is formed of a large multifunctional meeting room, a library for quiet concentrated work and two kitchens surrounded by informal seating areas.
Workstations are based along the outer ring of the building beside the windows, to make the best use of daylight and ensure comfort for staff. To prevent employees from being disturbed by continuous circulation across the space, a room-in-a-room concept was designed to be inserted between the workstations and building core. These custom-made rooms function as space dividers, separating working areas from the main circulation, but also include alternative workspaces such as small meeting rooms for brainstorming and stand-up meetings, open diner-type spaces for individual conversations, and single rooms for phone and video calls or more focused working.
Each floor also has a playful design feature, for example, a real SberJeep with a built-in PlayStation for a break from work or a modern version of a yurt, decorated in the style of the Alpine chalets, for cosy informal meetings.
SIMPLE AND INTUITIVE NAVIGATION
The size of each floor required a simple and intuitive navigation, so each of the four main zones features an individual colour and graphic theme to aid navigation and differentiate the zones. Different tonalities of the main colour are used on floors, walls and dividing furniture to further support navigation.
The architects also used bold graphics to create an individual look and feel for Sberbank. Meeting rooms feature themed wall graphics and privacy strips, ranging from bright patterns that energise creativity to photography designed to foster calm during meetings.
OUTSTANDING RESULTS
The diversity of working and meeting areas available motivates staff to change their working space during the day, stimulating a natural flow of employees, encouraging spontaneous meetings and information exchange along with giving the working day more flexibility and creativity.
Since introducing agile working principles, multi-disciplinary teams are working more effectively without a pronounced vertical hierarchy, delivering innovative results and faster, more flexible, turnaround on projects.
