OVERVIEW
As part of a larger project to revitalize Pfizer’s Greek Headquarters, the world’s leading pharmaceutical company recently went through a complete transformation, going from a conventional office originally built by A&M in 2001, to an exemplary future forward workplace redesigned 20 years later. The innovation of Pfizer doesn’t only reflect in the company’s activities, but it has also spanned in their physical workplaces, since they have adopted a humancentric character worldwide.
Leaving behind the typical closed office layout where isolation was promoted, the new office space pays attention to the endless choices of work scenarios while examining the principles of openness and flexibility in workplace design through a variety of co-working spaces carefully tuned to support different modes of work. Each of us prefer different settings to work at – the cafe, the library, a corner office, a distraction-free cubicle or even among people, while this can also shift, depending on the time of day or type of work. This workplace design project, acknowledges and celebrates this difference, providing different working atmospheres throughout the building, ranging from public use areas to more secluded and silent ones, or even a working area or meeting room which can transform into an open-air garden. Thus, the user is benefited with various choices of co-owning the whole co-working area in a humancentric office environment, which will lead to a more productive and desirable place to work, in a dynamic, comfortable, and responsive building.
Throughout the typical floors from 1st to 6th, the user can find various areas, such as height adjustable workstations, different sized meeting rooms, phone booths, semi open focus booths and collaboration huddle spaces where people informally come together. The capacity of configuration and with the alternative working environments can reach up to 200 users, after a thorough investigation based on the data and tools provided by the departments and their relevant types of work. Moreover, a communal and more public character was introduced on the ground floor level where a welcoming reception, various break out areas and informal meetings are introduced with the highlight of a fully equipped restaurant that opens to a private garden in the summer season. All these areas are connected through a luminous open atrium, washed by natural lighting coming through a large skylight. Beneath the skylights and connecting the ground floor and basement areas, a new amphitheater auditorium is created allowing for companywide events while showcasing the transparency of Pfizer among employees.
The main goal of this project was to create a workplace that supports the nature of how people work today while anticipating the user’s needs for the future, marking a flexible environment without conforming to the stereotypes of what a corporate working environment should feel like.
