Located in Oslo, Orkla’s new 16-storey headquarters is home to more than 900 employees, and is the main base of operations for the biggest branded consumer goods company in the entire Nordic region, a state-of-the-art structure designed by NSW Architects and Interior Architects IARK.

A three year project, Interior Architects IARK were fully involved in the development of the holistic workplace and design concepts, including an activity based working (ABW) layout and an array of sustainable and wellbeing centric features.

Alongside these criteria, the workplace was to be a reflection of the company’s values, – to be courageous, trusted and valued – reflected in all the design expressions, including the selection of décor, materials, colours and furniture. As a house of brands, Orkla was also keen to have its many brands visualized, displayed in such a way to portray them as “one Orkla”

From the early stages of the project Orkla were keen to implement ABW into their new workplace, but understood that for the concept to be effective, it would need to be tailored to their unique way of working. To ensure this, a pilot project for 120 employees was created over two years before completion date, giving the designers ample time to refine the workplace design.

The final concept consisted of three different function zones

• Single workplaces – Occupancy levels for 50% of the number of employees
• Collaborative spaces - Occupancy levels for 65% of the number of employees
• Common areas - Occupancy levels for approximately 40% of the number of employees

Reducing single workplaces to only 50% of the workforce size provides encouragement for employees to make use of the other zones when it suits their task, and increases movement and interactivity with other people and the environment. It also frees up space to include more space for common areas, which includes a range of rest and social areas.