5 Bank Street

London, UK

Client: EBRD Size:358,000 square feet

Completion Date: 2022

Sustainability: On target for WELL Platinum & BREEAM Outstanding

Best in class working environemnt

The Vision for 5 Bank Street was to co-create and deliver a best-in-class working environment for our client’s new headquarters.With an emphasis on wellbeing, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and community from the outset, the design fosters a culture of choice, collaboration, and innovation. The new workspace is functional and flexible, supporting the business and employees’ needs ina fair and transparent manner.

Moving its headquarters to a new location allowed the EBRD to approach its workplace with a fresh mindset that reflects a paradigm shift towards sustainability, wellbeing and social responsibility; a shift driven by huge global changes the business experienced during a nearly 30-year tenure in its former building and the enormous social shifts turbocharged by the pandemic

Wellbeing- Seeking Connections with Nature

Throughout EBRD’s new workplace, the design seeks to connect occupants with nature, and uses many elements of biophilic design to enhance their wellbeing. Natural materials, patterns of nature, and geographical references to the sweeping curves of the Thames in joinery details are employed. In addition, there are over 3000 trees and plants throughout the building. Reflecting the idea of a pathway through nature, the staircase is lined with continuous timber panelling, curving around a single, centrally placed tree. Workplace floors foster a culture of choice, collaboration and innovation. Signage and environmental graphics reflect organic shapes and the movement of water.

Sustainability

The design and construction phase of the fit-out prioritised sourcing responsible materials, with an emphasis on circularity and reduced emissions. The aim is for the development to be a net zero carbon fit-out, as a part of the Bank’s firmwide offsetting strategy. The design of the building retains a strong focus on performance not just in terms of energy and whole life carbon, but also with regards to air, water, acoustics and lighting quality which will be continually verified in the operational facility.

Tik Tok

London, UK

Client: Tik Tok

Size: 94,141 square feet

Completion Date: 2022

Sustainability: ™ Gold, WELL Certified ™

The Vision

The vision of the first TikTok home in London was to create an authentic, energetic, and inclusive workplace destination that unlocks the creative force of its people and the imagination, embraces innovation, instills a sense of pride, and celebrates its mission to inspire creativity and bring joy.

Nearly 80% of the London staff was hired during lockdown and the company’s vision was to create a space that can be a real magnet for their staff, a space that will be responsive, dynamic and adventurous, a home of bubbling creativity with the music at heart.

Activating the Brand

The brand is expressed from the shopfront with the full height expressive and colourful curtains that wrap the facade, made from overlapping shapes of the Tik Tok logo which is an integral part of the brands identity. The brand is also expressed on the core with the support of local artists who create murals to reflect the energy of TikTok and becomes muted and calming as you move deep into the focus spaces of the floorplate.

Above: The Ground Floor Entrance

Left: The Kaleidoscope office

The Kaleidoscope

The purpose of the Kaleidoscope office is to create the first physical community hub, an authentic, energetic, and inclusive workplace destination for TikTok. A home for the creative, the curious and the visionary. And a fantastic, healthy place to work, learn and play.

Clockwise from Top Left: An agile environment that supports different workstyles with the right settings in close proximity. ‘Creator’s Lounge’ at the Ground Floor with large suspended installation inspired by ballpits. An inclusive environment with sustainable materials.

Supporting the Community

The wellness rooms have a calming colour palette made up of natural materials. The curtains and blinds help to create a private space and provide visual and acoustic separation from the surroundings. Enclosed eeting spaces are cladded with fabric with solid colours – there is no use of bold or busy patterns that may cause visual stimulation to neurodiverse population. The colour palette on the open plan spaces where employees will do focused or collaborative work is muted and consists of lighter tones with complementary pastel tones of green, red, blue. In addition to that, there are no strong reflections or bright, bold colours that can be visually difficult to neurodivergent people.

Smart and Sustainable

Phone booths and enclosed meeting spaces which hold up to eight people have been designed to be demountable, removeable and all fitted with suitable sound insulation. Acoustic strategies were implemented accessing speech privacy and reverberation to control the noise from train movements and building services.

Indoor air monitors have also been installed in meeting rooms and open plan with the data accessible to all employees.

Celebration of Culture

The signage and wayfinding has all been branded consisting of rounded forms, circles and semi-circle shapes.

The colour scheme of community areas has a balanced portion of the brand colours- black, white and splashes of colour.

Murals inspired by Lodon were commissioned by Tik Tok. This makes the project locally relevant creating big floor landmarks a that make connections to the city.