AT Kearney Office in Istanbul by Iglo Architects offers a modern, flexible and creative environment for the employees, while hosting the customers in a stylish and well-designed space.

US-based consulting firm AT Kearney's office in Istanbul was designed and built by Iglo Architects under partners Architect Zafer Karoğlu and Architect Esen Karoğlu. AT Kearney is a firm that provides consultancy services to corporate companies with its offices in various countries. The project offers a modern, flexible and creative environment for the employees while hosting customers in a stylish and well-designed space. The dynamic working style due to the short-term rotations of the staff and managers in different offices of the company required an easily adaptable and variable working environment.

Co-founders of Iglo Architects Zafer Karoğlu and Esen Karoğlu were asked to fit in meeting rooms, a seminar room, a lounge area and working areas for 17 staff and 5 managers, technical volumes, wet spaces and a kitchen into the 200 sqm space in Nida Tower, Levent which has a very limited and amorphous structure due to the inclined façade of the building. As an addition to the client's brief, Iglo Architects recommended and targeted the right lighting, adequate acoustic comfort, and transparency.

The design was started with the principle of interchangeability of the compartments and the suitability of the furniture for this mobility since there was not enough space to position the necessary functions. At the entrance and reception area, Iglo Architects were designed a large library and comfortable seating area with a warm atmosphere which is separated by a polished wooden library framed by a metal lattice on one side and a gigantic separator with linear illuminated file shelves in the niche formed on the other. This element separates the two spaces in style, atmosphere, light, and sound while connecting them with a smooth transition provided by its shell made of a bronze mirror place inside a metal cage.

In the study areas, alternative seating units, acoustic meeting niches, telephone rooms, and desks and that can be raised and worked on while standing, were the elements that Iglo Architects has used to offer an efficient environment which will raise the mood of young employees and avoid the possible spine and posture deformations that may occur during long working periods. Felt panels, sound-absorbing surface forms, fabric coatings add acoustical value and enhance visual quality. The intensity-adjustable lightings are designed to achieve the desired atmosphere in the environment.

WC’s were positioned around the shaft in the space, an island was created. An acoustic conversation room and a storage area placed at one end of this island facing the working area, and an acoustic telephone booth placed at the other end, and all these volumes dressed with a preformed acoustic and decorative shell, resulting in a unitary and spatial form which gives the space its character.

Special acoustic elements in the form of cloud hanging from the ceiling have used in all working areas and closed offices. All of these elements contributed greatly to the sound absorption that bounces and creates a cacophony due to the hard surfaces, which are the majority in the general office volume and contributed to the transformation of the place into a very quiet working environment.

Three meeting scenarios were planned by Iglo Architects in the area on the left side of the library, located at the entrance; in the first scenario, two meeting rooms were used during the day for customer interviews, and in the second scenario, it was planned to be combined into a single large meeting room for large monthly board meetings. While the glass partition walls which divide the space into 2 rooms can be lost into the continuous cabinets recessed at the sidewall which is shared by both rooms to let form the large space needed, the tables can be conjoined to be transformed into a one-piece table for 18 persons. A special layer of paint was applied to the wall to produce both a large writable whiteboard and a projection surface that eliminates the need for curtains. In the third scenario, the large volume required for seminar-type meetings was designed and implemented in such a way that the glass wall separating the meeting rooms and the library area and the doors inside were slid and stored in a specially formed niche. In this scenario, meeting tables can also be stored exponentially.

The library and lounge area required for prestigious hospitality in an area separate from the operational departments was designed and differentiated in a slightly more classic style than the general modern atmosphere of the office. The bar table in the kitchen for 10 people has been designed with service areas where people can work, eat or have a coffee break up to their needs. All the executives' rooms were positioned parallel to the angled façade of the building and by doing so, the room’s entrances were eased and the executives can see the operation area.

With the multi-functional design approach and flexible design scenario, many small areas at risk of being idle are transformed into spacious and comfortable spaces, despite fewer square meters.