Busch-Jaeger en puls 05

Movements in architecture 02 | 2009 Modern office building in Hamburg By Jan Störmer Partner Office time is living time Enhancing functionality through building automation A new look for Stadtwerke Essen Corporate architecture ­ a visit to Landau + Kindelbacher » Editorial Stefan Camenzind has received numerous awards. In Zurich he designed the Google Development Center and the "Cocoon" office building. To the point: The future of the office pulse in conversation with Stefan Camenzind, Camenzind Evolution Is there a general trend discernible in contemporary office construction? What role does flexibility play? During the planning phase it is frequently not yet clear who is actually going to be using the building in the future, as was the case with our "Cocoon" project, for example. Nevertheless, we carefully defined the specific needs that are relevant to the building beforehand, which automatically gave rise to potential user groups. More and more developers are coming to realize that it makes more sense to create products which are ideal for a particular user group than to deliver average products. If you make use of intelligent planning practices, you can also easily guarantee flexibility of use in the longer term. Nowadays, office buildings are simultaneously business cards. What is your experience with reflecting corporate identity in architecture? Camenzind Evolution Google, for example, gave us no CI specifications whatever. The company placed importance on the working environment not becoming a showroom, but rather somewhere the staff can identify with. Only identification with a company that is actually experienced can be a sound basis for a constructed CI. What is the office culture of the future going to be like? And what does this mean for architecture? One of the key factors decisive in a firm's success is the level of its innovative power. In order to be innovative you need a corporate culture that consciously promotes this, and a working environment that makes it possible. Google is an example of this, although this does not mean that every company needs slides and egg-shaped conference rooms. Rather, what we need is the application of project procedures that offer corporate cultures optimal solutions. What influences and changes is the working environment going to be facing in the near future? We are clearly observing an individualization of our society and as such of the working world as well. Scientific research has revealed that a working environment which is designed accordingly can have a positive impact on innovation, cooperation and concentration. So in the future we will be offering employees all different kinds of offices which they can use as a team or individually. Given the difficult economic situation, how would you rate the chances of innovative office buildings actually being built? Economically difficult times are actually an ideal stimulus for innovation and change. In this sort of en...