contact_magazine_#37_EN

Offices from across the world
What’s on your desk?
04
“And in this age of digitisation and an ever stronger,
increasingly emancipated employee society”, says van
Berkel, “it was important to the client right from the
outset to invest in employer branding and to use the
new campus as kind of a recruiting machine.” This has
worked. The building includes several cafés, canteens
and restaurants; the food comes from Powerplant and
offers organic dishes with only little waiting time. The
green space planning, with vertical wall gardens, botanical
green islands and a winter-proof roof terrace,
is the responsibility of Makers of Sustainable Spaces
(MOSS). The work areas, consciously designed to be
healthy and ergonomic, are a collaboration between
CBRE and interior planner Hofman Dujardin.
As a response to the disruptive coronavirus pandemic,
which turned the previously established working
culture completely on its head, employees were
involved in the conception phase. The results of this
participation process were incorporated in particular
into the design of the foyer and the adjoining “we”
places as well as into the dimensioning and equipment
of the bicycle garage.
“But also behind the scenes”, says Ben van Berkel,
who has a separate health department in his own
office, “the building makes a valuable contribution to
the issue of health. We dispensed with toxic, pollutant-emitting
building materials, established sustainable
and moderate temperature control of the building
with the help of groundwater from the adjacent IJ
River and installed an open ventilation system instead
of the usual circular one, which has been able to reduce
the transmission of pathogens.” This has resulted
in a significant decline in sick leave statistics as well as
certification with the BREEAM Excellent seal.
Wojciech Czaja
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© Hufton+Crow
The building
makes a valuable
contribution to the
issue of health.
© Hufton+Crow
© Max Thinius
What’s on your desk,
Max Thinius?
© Max Thinius
“The future doesn’t come; it is shaped, and we’re the ones who shape
it!” Unlike most people looking towards the future, German futurologist
Max Thinius appeals to our self-responsibility and creative
capacity – and this makes him one of the most successful and soughtafter
crystal ball professionals in Europe.
He also applies the principle of mastery in shaping the immediate environment
to his own workplace. After all, even though he has a desk
in his study in his apartment in Berlin-Kreuzkölln, most of the time
this desk serves as a place to store his books, cameras and all sorts of
stuff. He himself prefers to work sitting down, lying down, lounging
on the couch, in a café, on a train, on his notebook, on his smartphone
– as long as it’s paperless.
“But what I attach all the more importance to”, says the man in the
hat with the orange brim, his trademark since 2015, “is an atmosphere
that inspires me: with colour, with a past, with unexpected cracks.”
That’s why, for example, a luminaire made from deer antlers hangs
from the ceiling. How did he get that? “Oh, that’s a long story!”
Other anecdotes are no less fascinating. We paid him a visit.
Wojciech Czaja
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The study used to be orange, like almost everything in my life
– the colour of kindness! But that got a bit much after a while.
The walls are now somewhat more muted.
An old Biedermeier sofa that I bought ages ago at an apartment
clearance for 200 marks. Newly upholstered, really comfortable!
An old poster by Guillermo Tapiello, one of the most famous
poster artists in France. “L’Oie d’Or”, I love this foie gras motif.
It’s very funny: if I position myself precisely, I look like I’m
wearing the crown when I’m on Zoom.
Not everything can be chic, otherwise the apartment would look
like an ad agency. Now and then, you also need deer antlers in
your life.
A tablet is also enough for easy work. I use it to photograph all
my bills and notes before I go paperless again.
A ceramic pot with a silver glaze. A time-forgotten relic with
pens and an old letter opener for the occasional letter that
arrives.
I have two old Nikon SLR cameras. I do take photos with them,
but I mostly play with them while I think. The clicking helps sort
my thoughts.
My orange Stanley thermos, filled with my favourite water,
Acqua Panna. I admit that I’m a little peculiar in this regard.
My business card box; this is my network, a mix of keepsakes
and active contacts.
I had a carpenter make the sideboard. The small Flowerpot table
lamp by Verner Panton used to be in our apartment in Copenhagen;
now it lives in Berlin.
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