Summary
The electronic component giant, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, was looking for a brand new workspace in Bengaluru, the tech hub of India, and had a versatile requirement - an office space that prioritizes the holistic needs of the employee while meeting ultra-specific global stakeholder requirements.
Right from the start, we knew that this was going to be a thrilling and inspiring project. Read on to learn more about the journey; from idea to concept to an actual workspace: where 100s of employees come together and assemble to change the world every day!
The Brief:
The leading integrated parts manufacturing company- SamsungElectro-Mechanics came in with the requirement for their new Bangalore office.They were looking for a space that put their employees first, a holistic workspace solution in terms of experience, cost, productivity, and well-being.
Being a tech R&D company, they had the following requirements
● A reception that emphasized the brand.
● Lab space for the tinkerers.
● Meeting rooms of various sizes with a priority towards confidentiality.
● An open and collaborative workspace.
● Separate space for Virtual Machines (Desktops) that would allow employees to be able to work from home while maintaining high confidentiality.
Understanding their brand, and the requirements, we initiated our research-based design process. Employing the help of our in-house Workplace Strategists we prepared our pitch for a state-of-the-art workspace! Their guidance allowed us to curate a workspace design that incorporates global standards and allows for all the brand requirements to be met.
The result - a space that cocoons employees and their complete needs throughout the workday.
The Pitch:
At the core of our workspace design strategy lies Workspace User Experience - a space design philosophy where all the client needs along with a holistic look at employee behavior throughout the work cycle are explored and analyzed to come up with a tailor-made solution for Samsung EM that drives maximum productivity and creativity.
Providing the brand’s personality to the space with the use of specific materials and highlighting it with design cues helps bolster the brand image.
The Design Process:
At 2gethr, our design process is simplistic but meticulous: our experienced design team starts with a rigorous workplace consultancy process with the stakeholders of the clients, which results in the creation of a clear design brief backed by facts and insights.
Our team, then, navigates the client seamlessly throughout the whole planning process of their new workspace to ensure that we create a space that is unique to them and resonates with their organizational culture, and motivates the employees.
The design philosophy prioritized for Samsung included:
● The need for an environment where people can be inspired, motivated, and aspire to do something great every day.
● The space should be holistic in meeting the need of the employees.
● A space that enables people to have a growth mindset and inspires them every day using design cues that make employees feel at ease.
Being storytellers who create a new story with every workspace we design - theSamsung story started with a layout that emphasized community ensuring a balance between collaboration and privacy.
The Story:
As soon as you cross the reception you find a large collaboration space in the middle of the workspace that is physically separated from the reception with an access-controlled entrance and a hard partition that acts as an acoustic screen.
Flanking this collaboration space are clusters of workstations for focused work.The workstations are void of any locker spaces making them flexible for any employee to come, sit, and start working.
The community and collaboration spaces (where employees can come together)are nestled neatly dividing the workspace into three individual focused clusters.
Moving right from the reception, there are meeting rooms of various sizes lining the passageway.
The most important factor while designing the workspace was to ensure all the workstations get the best possible natural light throughout the day and to make sure that all meeting rooms are planned against the existing physical mass of the building core.
As we move into the pantry, we are greeted by a space purposefully designed to make this the go-to celebratory space where employees come together; whether it be for birthdays, achievements, or that delicious treat.
The island bar in the pantry makes the pantry feel light, while still being highly functional. The bar-height counter in a pantry also doubles as a flex workspace.
There are little nooks in the pantry along the round pillars that help employees escape from the hustle-bustle of the office into a different world and are a crowd favorite.
On the extreme left-hand corner of the workspace is a massive board room with different modes of seating and communication keeping in mind the confidentiality and privacy privy of the space.
Outside the board room, tucked away in the corner is the library with another bar-height reading counter which overlooks the awesome city skyline of the tech hub of India, which makes the readers zone out.
Right next to the library lies an open lab that accommodates 12 tinkerers as they build the future!
The most unique requirement from Samsung EM was a space to house over 250CPUs that are used as Virtual Machines(VM). These VMs allow employees from across the country to be a part of the workspace. We created a one-of-a-kind Desktop Rack solution that could fulfil this requirement. 14 custom-built metal racks each of which has 3 shelves housing 6 desktops. All the racks are covered with anti-static vinyl making space for 250+ VMs. As these VMs are vital for the functioning of multiple teams, we designed and provided a standalone UPS with batteries that can back these systems up independently in case of power failure.
The entire space has the community and collaboration spaces nestled neatly.
Conclusion:
The new Samsung Electro-Mechanics office is a state-of-the-art workspace that delivers a holistic experience to the employees, meets the requirements of global stakeholders, and provides immense value to the organization.
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