A very unusual loft is being created in the harbour district of Mannheim, Germany; one where the architects are using light and sound to aid the natural flow of the building.
Architect Peter Stasek and the loftwerk architect office located in Karlsruhe are behind the concept of a new loft in the harbour district of Mannheim, Germany for social media company ajando. It was said to be inspired by the quantum physics of John A. Wheeler, the architecture of Josef M. Hoffmann and, of course, the information expertise of ajando.
Information is not only the essence of our world, but also the essence of ajando. Real information is only obtained when we combine, visualize and present the right data in the right way. Information that inspires and motivates people. This is a very fundamental core skill at ajando. “The dynamics of this information flow can be seen as the driving element of the company,” Peter Stasek explains. Consequently, the team made the data and information flows of ajando visible in the corporate architectural concept.
This starts with the layout of the rooms, for example. “The concept for the paths and the room are one and the same,” said the famous Viennese architect Josef M. Hoffmann. “Just like with information, the visitor is to be guided in the most direct way to the place where the reason for his visit is maintained, consulted, processed and forwarded,” according to Stasek. As a result, the loft from ajando becomes a cross-media platform – an ajando room is created for social and informative convergence, for dialogue and the sharing of ideas.
Even the design of the lighting is part of the concept. “The illumination of the corridors, the lobby as well as the open-plan office were designed under the motto “Light as a wave, light as a particle,” says Stasek. Single-colour, wave-shaped LED strips illuminate the outer walls, draped with textile. Sound installations will also give them another aesthetic dimension.
The brick masonry shines in coloured light as a contrast. White snowflakes fall softly and continuously in the half-open stairway shell – a projection of light. “The gliding of these light particles mirrors the information flow at ajando, and consequently displays the complete strategy of the company as a binding and never-resting element,” comments Stasek.
www.stasek.de
