In 2020, ray/ray/ was contacted by Phicap, asking to bring its 3 subsidiaries together under 1 roof. Besides the obvious financial benefits (shared infrastructure and services), the aim was to optimise cooperation.

We soon found that the existing companies had different business structures. One group was more hierarchically organised, with closed offices for the team leaders, where the other group had been working for years in an open landscape office for all employees.
We were able to convince the client to switch to Activity Based Working as 1 team. This way of working encourages interaction and provides an answer to conflicting activities (focus versus interaction).

An inviting multifunctional meeting area with a kitchen, a bar and a theatre was created at the entrance. In the centre came a large table for the entire team, supplemented by 2 smaller tables with benches (alcoves). Today, this area is used for receiving clients, lunch, presentations, company parties, etc.

The client needed a variety of meeting rooms (with different capacity, technology, confidentiality and atmosphere). They were all situated near the reception desk.

The other enclosed areas (phonebooths and print room) were placed centrally in the space, so that the calm work zone with flex-work stations on 3 sides of the building could benefit from the large windows. The green environment was drawn inside : we placed plants between and above workstations, and against the walls. The vegetation fits nicely with the homely mood board chosen for this area: light carpet and white lacquered parquet, and window workstations and wall cladding in light European wood (FSC).

The client's loose office furniture (tables, chairs, cabinets and loose carpets) was reused. The alcoves in the meeting area were composed of existing elements (recycled table legs and second-hand benches). The suspended ceiling was kept for budgetary reasons, integrating new lighting (LED). In the meeting area, it was painted dark blue.