Jo Lee Magazine - Luxury Edition 2020

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Ireland
Grant Thornton
By Susan Berger
New York / San Francisco / Hong Kong / London / Tokyo /
Rome / Toronto
As the quote on the ceiling of accounting firm Grant Thornton’s office in
Belfast says, “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men”.
The quote, taken from the film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”,
set the tone for the atmosphere of the office, which was designed to create a
fun environment and encourage the staff to feel excited at work.
Inspiration for the design, which envisioned helping employees maintain a
work-life balance, came from blockbuster movies that transport people
away from the stresses of life.
The office was designed as an open space for people to work in along with
unusual meeting rooms where they could feel transported to a different
world. The themed meeting rooms, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Star Wars
and Willy Wonka Emporium, hosted training sessions and large group
meetings, and were intended to inspire creativity and productivity and to be
attractive to new graduates.
Entering the Harry Potter room on the top floor, it was soon apparent that
you entered the Common Room at Hogwarts, filled with large leather
armchairs, potions in a glass cabinet and framed rules on the wall. Whether
boarding the starship Millennium Falcon in the Star Wars room or having a
seat in one of the pods or finding yourself in the jungle in the Jurassic Park
room, the Grant Thornton office clearly showed that office space did not
have to be boring.
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