The End of the Cubicle

You know that you are dealing with a successful project when client and service provider work well together and not only produce a good result but learn from each other in the process. An excellent example of this is the new offices of the management consultants Deloitte in Istanbul, which have recently been furnished by office furniture specialists Nurus. The approach taken by the long-established Turkish company not only makes an aesthetic and functional impact, it also reflects recent changes in the structure of working operations within large corporations, thus becoming a model for future projects. "The partnership with Deloitte has given us a new understanding of the office", is the general opinion at Nurus.

The figures are impressive: the overall project covers an area of 12,500 square metres, with 11 floors and 70 conference rooms as well as office areas, communal spaces and a café. This may sound overpowering, but the initial impression is by no means that of a mighty corporation. In spite of their highly contemporary formal idiom, the rooms at first sight look surprisingly homely, inviting and varied. There's a lot of wood, warm grey and expensive-looking carpet, with green and violet adding striking touches of colour in some areas. The chairs, tables and stand-alone items of furniture from the Nurus programme which have been used are all witness to imaginative design standards and contribute to the harmonious overall impression. It is obvious that - rather than intimidating those who work in them - the spaces which have been created here provide the company's staff with surroundings that have a human dimension.

However, no matter how important style and aesthetics are in the working environment, the real quality of this particular furnishing concept doesn't reveal itself until we take a closer look. This quality consists of the way in which the spatial structure and the furnishings reflect developments in the 21st-century world of work, and enable a new way of working which would hardly have been possible in conventional offices. At Nurus, this change is described as follows: "Today there is little scope left for cube-like systems, enclosed spaces or rigidly demarcated hierarchical structures. An optimal present-day working environment creates space for interaction and the transfer of know-how and ideas. In consequence we create rooms in such a way that people feel at home in them and can work productively and with the right motivation."

The implications of this are quickly made clear by the spatial structure of the offices, which focuses entirely on flexibility and freedom. No less than 800 square metres is designed as an open-plan area in which staff can work and interact freely with one another. Thanks to Wi-Fi and a laptop, they can even move their work into the café. The work stations themselves are designed flexibly for desk sharing, and are accessible to all personnel. Because a customised work station is available for each operation, staff can switch work stations depending on the specific activity they are engaged in. The conference rooms, communications and quiet areas are designed in such a varied way that staff can find exactly the right environment for any form of team or individual work. Instead of fixed telephones on the desk, there are soundproof phone cells in which staff can make calls without disturbing their colleagues. A good 20 per cent of the space is dedicated to training and motivational operations – this, too, is exemplary.

As a reference project the Deloitte Istanbul office accordingly encompasses every aspect of contemporary working operations, while at the same time representing a project which is typical of Nurus. This family firm, founded in Ankara by Nurettin Usta as a carpentry shop in 1927, has since acquired a world-wide reputation as a specialist producer of innovative office furniture featuring premium-quality design. This is confirmed by no less than 40 operating locations and an impressive customer list containing prestigious names such as Adidas, Apple, IBM and JP Morgan. What makes Nurus special is that the company offers one-stop shopping, ranging from individual articles of furniture from its own production facilities via turnkey office furnishings right down to integrated furnishing concepts for large-scale projects. Individual solutions are provided not just for the classical office but also for educational facilities, clinics, retail space and even airport terminals. This is made possible by the kind of product depth in all price ranges which is rarely encountered nowadays. For example, the company's product portfolio ranges from furniture concepts for the individual work station to entire conference rooms, not forgetting comfortable seating arrangements for the reception area, tables and chairs for the company restaurant and not least exclusive furniture for the offices on the executive floor. Accordingly there are modules available for every application, enabling Nurus to respond - in cooperation with the customer - to almost any requirements and provide made-to-measure solutions.

In its design operations the company's own team cooperates with prestigious international designers. The result is furniture with high standards of excellence when it comes to design - which accounts for more than 30 design prizes in the last 15 years alone. However, it isn't just the design and quality of the products which is impressive. Equally remarkable is the speed with which Nurus develops new products and places them on the market. It only took two months for the Ashbury office furniture range designed by Stefan Brodbeck in cooperation with the Nurus design team to progress from initial sketch to market launch. For the company this means that it can react flexibly and fast to changing trends and requirements, not just in terms of design but also with an eye to new functions and technical innovations. The benefit for customers in their turn is that it enables individual solutions to be provided within a very short time frame. This fast delivery also applies to standard products, with a dense network of sales centres ensuring that as a rule it only takes three days until the furniture ordered reaches the customer. This kind of service will be greatly appreciated by anyone who has had to wait several weeks for an urgently required office chair to arrive.