Fast times in Berlin: System 180 x heycar

Second-hand-car dealers can be a shady lot. Combine their métier, if you will, with online commerce and you’d be forgiven for running a mile. Disruption, however, has come in the form of a number of recent start-ups and new platforms, all trying to improve the reputation of the used-vehicle trade and, in turn, boost consumer confidence.

Backed by auto giant Volkswagen, Berlin-based heycar is a used-car exchange that launched in 2017, with the aim of making its service “faster, easier and safer” than that of existing providers. Each vehicle comes with a guarantee, having been put through its paces by selected quality dealers. Prerequisites include being less than eight years old and having no more than 150,000km on the clock.

Enter architectural office minimum projekt, who were charged with creating an interior concept for the fledgling company. Housed in the old Quelle department store in the Wedding district of the city, "heyvillage" comprises 3,500 square metres of space organised over three floors, home to around 250 type-appropriate workspaces.

When it came to specifying a space-defining system that would function both as functional storage and visual screening, as well as a distinctive graphic element, minimum projekt went to System 180. “We wanted to create separate zones within the overall space, while retaining maximum flexibility for future use. In the rapidly changing world of work, it’s important to combine aesthetics with freedom for users,” explains planner Dana Raheb.

Usable from both sides, the resolutely architectural, full-height system – which features lockable compartments at its base for employees’ personal belongings – can support whiteboards, plants and other objects. While dividing space, it nonetheless permits a certain amount of optical transparency between areas. This openness, plus the system’s flexibility, speak to the very heart of heycar’s brand values.

© Architonic