The Clariant Corporate Centre is the companys orientation and answer towards an increasing need for transparent, open cooperation and collaboration in managing global businesses. In order to utilise and maximise the potential of our new reloca-tion, we have worked alongside WIRTH+WIRTH, designers, artists and specialists.
Our goal is to mark the true importance of work processes and ethics, under which the high level of efficiency is derived from the office spaces and the choice of their equipment, that offer no less than a decisive influence on the motivation, comfort and health of the employees.
Charlotte Mann was commissioned to create the contextual piece in the entrance hallway. She is a British artist known for her densely detailed life-sized drawings of rooms in rooms, made with thick black marker pen on a white ground.
Teamwork, concentration and fidelity are considered as fundamentals of success within any company, in any culture. The functionality of our office accompanies this belief and is flexible in opening up to new needs of continually evolving tasks. From receiving visiting clients or harbouring ex-ternal collaborators, to the internal need of everyday brainstorm-ing sessions, sponta-neous conferences or informal occasions- static or active, are all possible when the housing of each hierarch-ical work environment is self-maintained by its design and construction, ruling out distor-tions to the common goal of business.
Besides being functional for business, the use of high ended designed furniture and equipments not only represents the company’s expectations of aesthetical and quality motto, but it should also mean a higher aspiration from the staff who will be personally attached to them. The essential aim is for each person to regard their job as a gratifying fulfilment on behalf of the company.
With a central core which houses the main structure and access vents of the building, the circular plan of each floor forces upon the user to adapt a constantly looping space with non-linear circulation paths. It was therefore a priority to invent an organ-isational system that is continuous and con-sistent without blocking out the 360 degree presence of natural light.
With a central core which houses the main structure and access vents of the building, the circular plan of each floor forces upon the user to adapt a constantly looping space with non-linear circulation paths. It was therefore a priority to invent an organisational system that is continuous and consistent without blocking out the 360 degree presence of natural light. In the wake of this demand, light-weight sliding partitioning systems and a continuous bench alongside the windows are implemented, strategically opened, closed or cut off to each personnel or team’s method of communicative work. The bright clarity and neutral tones of the resulting floor spaces become the indispensable palette that is formative in blending the combination of staff and departments within the company.
There are designated coffee points and lounges at the beginning or the end of each floor loop of work places that serve as a common room for staff to stimulate informal communications.
The most indispensable and static com-ponent of an executive office or a con-ference room is the table. In Clariant, a selection of executive and board meeting rooms are fitted with exquisitely crafted or chosen work desks, custom designed or modified by WIRTH+WIRTH then produced by Walter Knoll.
The personal work surfaces are large enough to serve as spontaneous conference tables and the functional ‘surf-board’ shape of the board room table allows everyone that’s seated an optimal view of the speaker or presentation screen. These integral parts of the interior installed with advance communicational devices will hopefully aid the clarity and process of making every executive decision.
As stated previously, each systematically organised looping floor represents neutral palettes whereby the company is able to mix their work force by catalogue of different departments. These spaces are then graced by large plants, colourful paintings and ambient lighting, that collectively function to accomplish the office as a living space at the same time. Each decorative element are specifically chosen for each lounge zone, executive office and public receptive space.
Black and white photography of various subjects chosen by Clariant are also used at different scales throughout each floor on wallpapers as well as translucent layers embedded in var-ious glass partitioning, whilst maintaining the mono tone of the general interior.
From mountain streams to city rivers, from the ridge of a mountain and across the valley planes. Nicolas Wirth photographed Switzerland in 2010 in the pursuit of the treasures that the locality of Clariant has to offer. The resultant monographs depict timeless contexts of nature and the manmade, whilst furnishing the walls of each office floor in the Clariant Corporate Centre.
