Designing from the Inside-out

The Approach

Rather than designing an exterior form first and shoehorning functions in later, the Inside-out process begins with designing cost-effective functional solutions to your unique business needs. 

The Advantages

Designing from the Inside-out can help your business realise the full potential of a purpose-built building.

Integrated Project Delivery: Reducing risk, increasing effectiveness

The client is inherently at the centre of the Inside-out approach: your business’s requirements and needs shape not just the end-result, but the project process preceding it.

M Moser’s in-house Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) expertise can lead the entire project from site selection to construction. IPD enables projects to be undertaken from a single point of responsibility rather than by disparate contractors and consultants.

The benefit: Better communication, coordination and responsiveness throughout the project, with less time and money wasted.

Click here to find out more about IPD

Discovering your goals, your way of work

Your business’s key needs form the inner core of Inside-out architecture. To understand them, the M Moser team engages in an intensive discovery process to reveal your business culture  priorities, operational dynamics and technical requirements.

Another client-centred technology for Inside-out architecture is Collaborative Building Information Modelling, or ‘CoBIM’. This uses three-dimensional modelling to enable designer and client to fully experience the building as it developed. Areas for improvement or correction can be quickly identified and modified before construction begins.

The result:  Spaces that work optimally from day one, and require less remedial (and expensive) alterations after completion.

Case Study: An inside look at Inside-out design

The Challenge

Impetus for Nokia’s new China headquarters arose from the inadequacy of its original facilities, which dispersed various departments and operational units across central Beijing.

While Nokia realised the desirability of consolidating staff under a single roof, the new headquarters’ proposed location away from the core areas of Beijing raised a serious challenge: Staff members’ commutes would in some cases be prohibitively inconvenient, as would their access to everyday amenities like supermarkets, restaurants, banks and laundries.

The Response

In essence, rather than bringing the headquarters to the heart of the city, M Moser’s design brings the city to its heart.

Nokia’s new headquarters provides 829,350 sq-ft of area distributed among six floors. Its immediately distinctive feature is a ground-level ‘main street’ – an enclosed full-height void which divides the building into two distinct halves.

As well as conveniently bisecting working areas into the two discrete, secure zones needed by the client, the ‘street’ serves as a social setting offering access to a range of amenities and services. Among these are restaurants, convenience shops, a health club, concierge, and a ‘jetlag room’.

Notably, with just 0.1% turnover resulting from the relocation, Nokia’s staff has overwhelmingly bought into their new workplace.

Integrated Sustainability

M Moser’s holistic Inside-out approach to the project also aided in fulfilling the client’s ambitious sustainability goals. The building’s double-skinned glass curtain wall effectively insulates the interior, reducing load on climate control systems. Aided by the unobstructed open-plan layout of the offices, the extensive glazing also allows natural light to flood through the interior, which both cuts dependency on artificial illumination and contributes to a more comfortable working environment. A scheme of low-flow fixtures makes the building extremely water-efficient.

Ultimately, the Nokia headquarters received LEED Gold certification by the US Green Building Council – the first building in Beijing to achieve the distinction.