Nokia House, 10 Great Pulteney Street, London W1
Central London
MoreySmith won the task of designing not one but three interiors for Nokia - in London, Espoo in Finland and Copenhagen - after the client's lengthy search for the right designers.Our previous work with EMI and Sony was a definite factor in the appointment.
The London office is on three floors. This is the top floor; to the left of the lifts is the reception and café, where design teams breakfast together, and in front a presentation room screened off with two giant pivoting acrylic panels.
'We particularly want to avoid the austere look that often
accompanies corporate design, and are looking to create innovative,
collaborative environments that will engage and stimulate designers.'
Babette Strousse
Nokia's Director of Operations
The ground floor reception, where guests are met and escorted up to the offices. These colours link with the fifth floor 'Nokia only' reception.
The fifth floor café, an important communal space to encourage staff and visitors to eat and exchange ideas together. Full height sliding glass doors give great views across Soho and lead to the roof terrace, due to be furnished for the summer so the designers can breakfast in the open air.
Quiet rooms are in front of each set of lifts, visible from the workspaces, formed with frameless glazing at the front and coloured fabric walls on the back. It was important for these areas to feel different from the office and project rooms, incorporating rugs, soft seating and 'funky' feature lighting.
Lift lobbies. The ceilings leave the services exposed, enhancing the SoHo loft feel and giving a nod to the industrial aesthetic that sets itself apart from the corporate slickness of the open plan office space.
Project rooms are designed to allow designers to work collaboratively away from their desks. Furniture is flexible and demountable and the occupiers control the lighting. Reclaimed timber doors slide back to expose the space to the main office for presentations. Here is also a multi-functional informal 'mini project area' area, for impromptu breakaway meetings or touchdown for visitors.