Interior Award - Large Office

"This project neatly negotiates a grand but lively central space, giving a sense of focus and involvement from all sides. Well done and surrounded by spaces with real individuality, it is a considerate environment with a variety of shared spaces for individuals as well as groups."

Located on the outskirts of Beijing, Nokia's 829,350-sq.-ft. headquarters is an ambitious project that aims to offer a new home to its 2,300 staff, balancing work and life. This "mini-town," as described by workplace designers M Moser Associates, is essential to support Nokia's staff members' daily work and lifestyle needs, so as to continue to retain and attract the best talent in the industry.

The new headquarters combines all the different operations previously scattered around downtown Beijing into one single building to foster collaboration and synergy among R&D, business units and manufacturing. Situated in a place far from downtown in a location with few amenities, it posed a great challenge to the designer to make people feel stimulated working in a closely knit community. "The project had to reflect Nokia's strategy of unity and connecting people... The challenge then, is to convince people that this is a change for the better," remarks Meng-Chew Ching, head of real estate, APAC/China at Nokia. After extensive consultation with management and staff representatives, Nokia and M Moser designers devised an indoor mini-town scheme that is designed from the inside-out.

Inside this mini-town, a sunlit, full-height atrium serves as the "town center" and an integral part of the vertical circulation. According to John Selley, group managing director for M Moser Associates, "Design solutions help staff balance work/life needs. To encourage collaboration, the R&D facilities and business are grouped around a 'Main Street', which features shared functional amenities such as client meeting suites, auditorium space, and a visitor drop-in center as well as shared social amenities that include restaurants, a cafe, ATM, convenience store, gym, jet-leg room, etc." This holistic approach improves staff morale and enables health benefits and greater productivity.

While sustainability is a strategic focus, mobility and ergonomics are other key design considerations. Staff mobility was grouped into three parts: staff who are generally mobile, campus-mobile, and desk-based. And aside from ergonomic chairs, employees also were provided with height-adjustable workstations, which also allows for greater access to cabling.

Everywhere along the public space offers full views of the collaborative interactions in the different settings. The sense of openness and "whole life experience" make the staff feel part of the community. Ching concludes: "This mini-town fully combines staff's working lives and their personal needs and provides Nokia with a facility that supports not only the staff but the company's core values of sustainability and innovation."

M Moser Associates creates workplace environments for global business. Eleven offices in Beijing, Delhi, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, New York, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore and Taipei serve the design and planning needs of multinational companies around the world!