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Architects: KOGAA
- Area: 1655 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:BoysPlayNice
Text description provided by the architects. In a shared effort to reuse and provide content to existing city properties, Czech architecture studio KOGAA together with the South Moravian Innovation Center have undertaken and completed their second retrofit project in Brno.
The facility provides now spaces for an open innovation ecosystem that supports successful entrepreneurs in the region. The headquarters of the Institute are located in a previous laboratory space in Brno‘s technological park but as the work model evolved to be more open and collaborative, the fixed structure layout of the research building became obsolete.
As experts in alternative retrofit workspaces, KOGAA was asked to come up with a new vision for an office that fosters collaborative encounters and provides a feeling of openness and creativity, as well as finding sustainable solutions for the new function. To achieve that, fixed enclosing walls were replaced by transparent organic forms accommodating meeting rooms or private workstations. To keep the most sustainable renovation, most of the furniture has been kept from the previous offices as well as illumination and the main floor finishes. Additionally, the upper floor was separated from the ground floor by a glass partition to avoid unnecessary heat losses. Acting as a welcoming common space for people from the outside, the ground floor was enhanced by an iconic installation representing the identity of JIC as well as interacting with the space. The colored plexiglass lighting fixture works through the day by casting different colors on the surrounding surfaces and visually connecting the ground floor with the upper floor.
The red tones were used in the ‘active’ workspaces meant for exchanges of ideas and internal communications but also where external guests are brought into the space and introductions made. These spaces include the ground floor reception featuring a large ceiling installation made of bent plexiglass and the Vitra organic sofa as well as the JIC lounge on the first floor. Cold tones are applied on the opposite side of the spectrum for focus times, where maximum concentration and silence are required. They are used in office spaces and workstation zones such as the coworking on the ground floor and some small workrooms in the glazed organic rooms.
In between these colour spectrums, we used yellow and orange tones in areas where focus meetings are needed in particular for the glazed room of the JIC dedicated floor.
The primal materials used in the design are those that allow for designing with curves so you can see glazing partitions and corrugated powder-coated metal sheets shaping the spaces. Plexiglas was used as another great material for bent shapes in the entrance hall pending installation. Finally, curtains and carpets add softness and sound insulation to the space as well as support the organic design we planned for the retrofit.
