contact_office_magazine_#38_EN

Edition 38 

Artificial intelligence joins the team 

Multifunctional rooms: 

Small space? More room! 

Faster decision-making in 

stand-up meetings 

Office workers sit in a room designed in a vintage style. Colourful elements can be seen all 

across the room. Each worker wears a futuristic helmet, creating a surreal contrast to the 

nostalgic aesthetic. They are working together on an AI project, a scenario that blurs the 

boundaries between the past and the future.

AI: Your next teammate? 

Welcome to the latest issue of contact – your trusty companion 

through the ever-evolving world of work. In this issue, we’re focusing 

on the topic of artificial intelligence and its influence on office 

working. Is AI nothing more than a nice assistant, or will it soon 

become a colleague? 

Artificial intelligence joins the team04 

Small space? More room!07 

All about modern coworking landscapes10 

What office workers really want12 

Reference story: Agilox – Doubling down on New Work13 

Faster decision-making in stand-up meetings16 

Offices from across the world: Casa Pich i Pon, Barcelona18 

What's on your desk, Carla Lo?21 

Trendwatching: Useful ideas for everyday office life22 

From a meeting marathon to a gentle stroll23 

7 office must-haves24 

Showroom: Agile assistants for modern creative spaces26 

We’ll take a closer look at a variety of room concepts that are 

designed to meet the growing demand for flexible working 

environments. 

You’ll find out what office workers really want, and discover the 

trends you can use to create the perfect office environment for 

them. From stand-up meetings to real office must-haves, this 

edition has it all. 

And of course, we’ll continue our journey through “Offices from 

across the world”, this time heading to Barcelona to explore Casa 

Pich i Pon. With a blend of fascinating architecture and an ingenious 

office concept, the designers have created a truly inspiring 

place to work. 

So sit back, relax, and immerse yourself in a world of inspiration: 

Enjoy! 

Laura and Markus Wiesner 

© muzivcesku © Petr Karšulín 

Publisher: Wiesner-Hager Möbel GmbH, Linzer Strasse 22, A-4950 Altheim, T +43/(0)7723/460-0, altheim@wiesner-hager.com, www.wiesner-hager.com, 

thinknewwork.com; concept/editor: Wiesner-Hager, mintmind Communication GmbH; layout: mintmind Communication GmbH, guest author: Wojciech Czaja; 

typing and printing errors reserved; 05/2024. 

contact 3

Office Concepts 

4 contact 

AI at the next desk? 

Artificial intelligence joins the team. 

{Hi ChatGPT! Please write an article about artificial intelligence in the modern working environment.} 

It probably would have taken us less than five minutes to enter this command into perhaps the world’s 

best-known generative AI tool and get an article about artificial intelligence and New Work back, ready 

to print. But is that really the future of the world of work? Where is AI going to be used, or perhaps 

even take over? What are the risks? And are we going to become something more akin to colleagues? 

Office workers sit in a room designed in a vintage style. Colourful elements can be seen all across the room. Each worker wears a 

futuristic helmet, creating a surreal contrast to the nostalgic aesthetic. They are working together on an AI project, a scenario that 

blurs the boundaries between the past and the future. 

AI research – the status quo. 

Almost all of us see the rapid development in the 

field of AI as something unfamiliar and unusual. Up 

to now, digital- and machine-based support in our 

working environments has been limited to assistance 

systems – the actual implementation and decisionmaking 

still left to us humans. Artificial intelligence 

systems, on the other hand, 

are becoming more and 

more far-reaching, working 

largely independently of us, 

and generally only requiring 

human intervention 

as the exception, rather 

than the rule. AI enables 

machines to imitate human 

cognitive abilities – such as 

logical thinking, learning 

and planning – by recognising 

and analysing the 

data it is fed and drawing 

conclusions from it. It is 

therefore not “intelligent” in a human sense, and cannot 

magically acquire a human level of understanding; 

the data AI works with is provided by humans, 

after all. At a base level, it’s all a matter of statistics. 

But where are we with AI research at the moment? 

Markus Manz and Lukas Fischer from the Software 

Competence Center Hagenberg know the answer. 

“Research in the field of artificial intelligence is 

diverse, dynamic, and revolutionising a huge range 

of sectors and roles, including pattern recognition, 

forecasting, selection processes, chatbots and medical 

technology. Deep learning and neural networks 

– both sub-domains of artificial intelligence 

– are dominating here. Advances 

in the neural network architectures 

have revolutionised some areas of 

application, such as image recognition 

and language processing. As 

well as exploring new opportunities, 

researchers are also concentrating on 

making AI systems more robust, reliable 

and adaptable”, says Manz. 

AI is particularly suited 

to tasks that are 

repeatable and require 

large volumes 

of data.” 

AI joins the team. 

What exactly does that mean for the world of work, 

and where can we make best use of artificial intelligence 

systems? “AI is particularly suited to tasks that 

are repeatable and require large volumes of data. Making 

decisions based on complex facts, and the ability 

to react to changes, are also areas where AI shines”, 

explains Fischer. But it’s not 

suited to every task. “Creativity, 

emotional intelligence 

and deep interpersonal 

communication are all areas 

where AI is (currently) 

lacking”, adds Fischer. If 

artificial intelligence is used 

to process complex data or 

perform repetitive, routine 

tasks, teamwork is essential 

– just as it is between 

human colleagues. “For 

humans and AI to develop 

a successful working 

relationship, there needs to be a clear assignment of 

roles, transparency, explainability, feedback loops, 

continuous learning, trust, and consideration of 

ethics and responsibility. If these basic principles 

and proven methods are adhered to, humans and AI 

can solve complex problems together”, says Manz, 

confidently. 

Dangers and risks. 

As much as AI can support and simplify our 

working lives, critics are constantly voicing their 

concerns about the dangers and risks. “There are 

clearly some potential dangers to be aware 

of when working with AI. Risks such as 

bias (stereotyping) and discrimination, 

loss of jobs and social inequality, 

security and data protection. 

There is also a potential loss 

of control, and many ethical 

questions. It’s already making 

our lives easier in some areas to 

such an extent that we could start 

to lose certain skills down the line”, 

warns Manz. The fear of losing jobs 

is a particularly hot topic right 

now. “It’s a justified concern, and 

the question needs to be asked. 

History shows that technological 

developments can lead to a 

loss of jobs in certain 




sectors. However, it also shows that new ones are always 

being created. And that’s what will happen with AI. It’s 

important to take potential impacts on the job market 

seriously and put appropriate measures in place to get 

the most out of the opportunities AI affords us”, explains 

Fischer. 

Explainability and ethics are becoming increasingly 

important as AI starts to permeate our daily lives. The 

systems have to become more transparent and interpretable 

to ensure that AI decisions are traceable and ethically 

justifiable. “To this end, as part of the EU’s Digital Strategy, 

the EU Commission has put the Artificial Intelligence 

Act (AIA) in motion; a law that – in its current version 

– contains specific recommendations as to how research 

institutions and the wider business world should use AI”, 

explains Manz. 

Effective collaboration? Ethical problems? Critical 

voices? Where do the experts land when it comes to 

collaboration with artificial intelligence systems in the 

workplace? “The fact is that a team of people working 

with AI delivers better results than the most talented 

people or most advanced algorithms alone. At the end of 

the day, whether we take advantage of artificial intelligence-based 

support in day-to-day working life depends 

on the specific requirements and objectives of a task, and 

the available resources and limitations. And, in the end, 

that can only be decided by a human.” 

About Software Competence 

Center Hagenberg GmbH 

The Software Competence 

Center Hagenberg (SCCH) is 

a non-academic research centre 

that has built up a reputation 

for outstanding applicationoriented 

research in the fields of data and software 

science over the past 25 years. This focus 

enables it to effectively implement projects in 

the fields of digitalisation, Industry 4.0 and 

artificial intelligence. The SCCH sees itself as 

an interface between the international research 

community and the domestic economy, and 

carries out world-leading research with its 

130-strong team. 

www.scch.at 

Markus Manz is the CEO of 

the SCCH and is responsible 

for the institution’s strategic 

planning. He wants to further 

expand its collaboration with 

the scientific and economic 

community, and increase the 

centre’s visibility on the global 

stage as a world-leading institution. 

Lukas Fischer is the SCCH’s 

Research Manager for Data 

Science, and has many years 

of experience in research and 

project management. 

©Nicky Webb 

Space to communicate: 

Small space? More room! 

Increasing communication needs meet limited space: Does this sound familiar? Multifunctional room 

concepts are a smart solution when there is not enough space, because they are designed for multiple 

use. A flexible furnishing and media concept allows different applications to be implemented in the 

same space with little effort. 




The role of the office is fundamentally changing. 

While spaces for focused work are becoming smaller 

with people increasingly working from home or 

remotely, the need for communication zones is 

growing. The office is becoming more of a space for 

collaboration, creative communication, and training 

and education. Often, the existing space cannot keep 

pace with these new scenarios. The solution lies in 

multifunctional rooms, which require a great deal of 

planning consideration to work effectively. 

One space, many use cases. 

Obviously, companies can’t provide a separate 

room for every single communicative situation. But 

certain scenarios can be effectively combined in 

multifunctional rooms, particularly all the various 

kinds of training sessions: seminars, courses, lectures, 

presentations and workshops, etc. To facilitate this 

multi-use concept, the room needs appropriately 

flexible space, furniture and media concepts. 

Provided there is sufficient 

floorspace, a combined 

room concept 

increases the 

options available 

considerably. 

Two or three 

smaller multifunctional 

rooms 

can be combined to 

form one large event space by incorporating flexible, 

soundproof room division systems. This further 

expands the number of ways the room can be used 

– for example to include meetings, conferences and 

banquets. 

One of the most crucial factors in an effective multifunctional 

room is the acoustics. Textile flooring 

combined with acoustic ceiling panels are often the 

most effective way of making the space acoustically 

comfortable. 

Good light planning is also vital. Due to the changing 

use cases and configurations, the room should 

not contain single-spot illumination, but rather 

enjoy even lighting across the entire area. 

Mobility is key. 

The furnishings chosen should be as mobile as 

possible so that the room can be rearranged quickly 

without significant effort. And don’t forget that the 

furniture will need to be stored compactly either in 

the same room or a separate area. 

Stacking tables or pivoting folding tables on rollers 

are the best choice here. Any that aren’t needed can 

be effortlessly rolled from A to B and stacked on 

top of one another. In terms of chairs, criteria such 

as comfort, fast and simple setup, and a stackable 

design should be top priorities. Lecterns can be 

fashioned by arranging different pieces of furniture 

– from a traditional stand to small standing desks or 

mobile trolleys that can also hold parts of the media 

equipment and cabling. Sideboards can be used not 

only as storage for media equipment, but also as a 

place to set down any catering offerings. 

Media concept requirements have become considerably 

more sophisticated in recent years. Depending 

on the size of the room, projectors are increasingly 

being replaced by large screens. Mobile digital 

whiteboards are also becoming more commonplace 

in multifunctional rooms, as is video conferencing 

equipment to enable remote participants to join in 

seamlessly with hybrid events. But despite all this 

digitalisation, analogue media is still needed. Flipcharts, 

pinboards and whiteboards are still highly 

effective tools, especially when it comes to capturing 

information quickly and easily, or gathering creative 

ideas from a group. With the increasing use of digital 

media and devices, requirements are also rising in 

terms of the room’s electricity, network and media 

connections. Electricity cabling in particular requires 

thorough planning. The better the cabling is integrated 

into the furniture, the cleaner the cable management. 

However, overcomplicated connections can 

make it more difficult to switch between furniture 

setups. Cleverly positioned ports – ideally in floor 

boxes – combined with cable boxes integrated into 

the desks and tables, make plug-and-play a breeze. 

Wi-Fi technologies are, obviously, increasingly 

playing a leading role in the digitalisation of communication 

spaces. This particularly concerns wireless 

connections to the network and media equipment. 

When it comes to visualisation and presentation 

via wireless screensharing, there are also a range of 

sophisticated solutions that are well-supported by 

modern devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops) and 

screens. 

Zone planning in multifunctional rooms. 

A sophisticated zone and space plan is needed to 

cover all of the various scenarios a multifunctional 

room will play host to. The aim is to avoid wasting 

space and creating bottlenecks. Multifunctional 

rooms should be planned as communication zones 

whose size and layout are flexible and can support 

various forms of communication with the help of 

a mobile furnishing concept. You will need to plan 

the following areas: action zone for hosting and 

presentation duties, a participant area, areas between 

furniture for people to walk along, areas for storing 

furniture and equipment, and a breakout area nearby 

but ideally in a separate space from the actual communication 

room. 

WORKSHOP CONFERENCE EDUCATION TRAINING 

CONCLUSION: 

The only way to use space 

efficiently is to plan intelligent and 

holistic zone and design concepts. 

These ensure the necessary communication 

quality and establish a 

positive meeting culture. 




Hub is hip: All about modern 

coworking landscapes. 

What was once a traditional business centre is now a modern coworking space. More and more 

companies are following the trend and creating their own coworking landscapes within their offices. 

Better together – coworking as 

a collaborative venture. 

Coworking spaces originally came about as a modern 

and cost-effective alternative for freelancers and 

startups. They are places for people who don’t work 

together directly, but still want to take advantage of 

the synergies generated by a shared, inspiring workspace. 

Instead of working from home alone, several 

people come together in a working environment that 

encourages creativity. These spaces become the foundation 

of a community, and thereby play an important 

role in making people feel that they belong. Famous 

coworking spaces such as bluebird.space, the Impact 

Hubs and Broeinest are already implementing this 

concept. 

Part of the hub – the concept of a 

coworking landscape. 

But we are now starting to see a shift towards companies 

creating their own coworking spaces within their 

offices. While primarily intended for their employees, 

these can also be used as a workspace for external people 

such as crowdworkers and freelancers. Temporary 

project teams can use them as a creative workspace, 

remote workers can spend their sporadic office days 

in them, and working groups can use them for quick, 

spontaneous meetings. 

In modern New Work offices, coworking landscapes 

are generally positioned in the public hub areas to facilitate 

collaboration and communication. Embedded 

in the open room concept of the hub zones, they offer 

spaces to take telephone and video calls in peace and 

quiet, or to focus on specific tasks. All workstations 

are hot desks and not assigned to any one person. 

This gives coworking landscapes their highly flexible 

nature. Ideas tend to arise in an open and creative 

working environment, away from the employees’ 

traditional desks. Coworking landscapes are a creative 

zone for temporary working, informal meetings and 

different forms of discussion. Their more casual nature 

encourages collaboration and facilitates spontaneous 

brainstorming. 

Flexible and creative – versatile 

furniture options. 

There is plenty of freedom in design when it comes 

to these spaces: industrial style, club or living room, 

lounge, creative landscape or urban marketplace. The 

important thing is that coworking landscapes can be 

shifted around to create different working environments 

and provide a supportive ambience for the task 

at hand. This open concept requires acoustic measures 

to be taken, preferably through textile flooring and 

sound-absorbing materials on walls and ceilings, or as 

free-standing or suspended elements. 

Furniture supports the versatile concept. Benches or 

islands that can be easily screened off can be used as 

desks and tables. Concentrated work, communication, 

coordination and temporary use can all be catered 

for conveniently without wasting space. As they will 

be used by a great number of different people, swivel 

chairs should ideally feature automatic weight detection 

to save wasting time manually adjusting them. 

Conclusion: In a world in which flexibility and 

networking are becoming increasingly important, coworking 

landscapes are an exciting concept. They not 

only create space to work, but also for conversation, 

inspiration and innovation. 



Office Life 

Reference story 

What office workers 

really want. 

The talent war has been raging for a while now. And there is one question that everyone wants the 

answer to: What is it that really attracts office workers to a company, and what’s just nice to have? 

Flexibility is top of the list. 

The public opinion research institute Gallup carried 

out a study with 5,700 office workers in the US to 

determine what employees really feel is important in 

terms of working hours, and above all, what options 

would encourage them to change jobs. Factors such as 

flexitime were considered a basic requirement rather 

than a real bonus. On the other hand, additional 

annual leave, a four-day week, and the option to work 

partially remotely (regardless of location) or at home, 

were real plus-points in favour of changing jobs. 

Interiors as a key factor. 

But it’s not just working hours and models that 

play a decisive role. Factors such as regionality and 

the design of the office spaces are essential to office 

workers. Property consultants Savills also carried out 

a study on office workers, asking the question: “What 

factors would you change about your workplace, if 

you could?” The most popular option, chosen by 

around 16 percent of those surveyed, was the length 

of their commute. A close second was the design and 

furnishings of the interiors, which was 

the top choice for 15 percent of the 

respondents. 

Based on these findings and the 

clear importance of the interior 

design of offices for workers, 

Savills continued the survey 

by asking how much additional 

commuting 

time employees would accept if it were balanced out 

by having what they considered to be their perfect 

working environment. The result? Three quarters of 

the respondents would travel up to 30 minutes longer 

if they could work in their dream office – despite the 

fact that a shorter commute was their top priority. 

According to the survey, a dream office would offer 

things such as options to work away from the desk, 

cleanliness, good lighting, a quiet environment, comfortable 

workstations, increased use of plants, and the 

rooms’ interior architectural design. 

Conclusion. 

Alongside increasing flexibility in terms of working 

hours, the attractiveness of the office space is a top 

priority when it comes to finding new employees and 

retaining them long-term. Investing in the planning of 

your office landscape is therefore not only a sensible 

choice, but also essential for attracting the best employees 

to your company. 

© raumpixel.at 

Agilox: 

Doubling down on New Work. 

Back in 2021, AGILOX – a manufacturer 

of intelligent driverless 

transport systems – opened its 

brand-new headquarters designed 

to modern New Work standards 

in Neukirchen bei Lambach. Two 

years later, its site at Techbase Linz 

followed. 

© shutterstock 




Reference story 

We have created a 

way to let all of our 

employees relocate 

their workstations 

to different places 

as needed, flexibly 

and in a way 

that suits them. 

© Robert Maybach 


More than a canteen. 

Back in the headquarters, you quickly come across 

the next highlight. The generously sized canteen is 

not only a great place to spend a lunch break, but the 

lounge-esque, cosy islands along its walls also offer 

a place for both meetings and breaks. The flexible 

furnishings with stacking tables and chairs allow the 

room to be used for events and seminars. 


Focusing on communication. 

Both the headquarters in Neukirchen 

and the office in Linz now 

boast a streamlined, dignified aesthetic. 

Dark and muted colours such 

as black and grey are interspersed with 

wooden elements and eye-catching 

features in the company’s 

characteristic shade of green. The 

construction and architecture of the 

headquarters were managed by the 

company Peneder. The furniture for 

both sites was supplied by Wiesner- 

Hager. 

One particular feature of the office landscapes is 

their focus on communication areas. Spread across 

the Neukirchen site’s 1,500 m² floorplan, meeting 

islands, conference rooms and intermediate zones 

are all seamlessly integrated into the office design. 

The large meeting room with modern multimedia 

integrations is the office’s centrepiece. At the Linz 

site, too, there is an equally well-equipped larger 

meeting room with a screen for (hybrid) conferences 

and integrating digital content. A working café 

offers a place to chat casually around a large standing 

table, or hold informal team meetings. The colourful 

intermediate zones and the office’s integrated phone 

boxes create a counterpoint to the otherwise very 

clean architecture. 


Eye-catching office. 

The first thing you notice about the Techbase site 

are the office rooms. Here, the unusual design of the 

furniloop desk provides a real breath of fresh air. The 

sound-insulating screens around the desks not only 

provide privacy, but also help to create a pleasant 

acoustic environment. There is a hot desk concept in 

place. “In our new office building in Linz, we have 

created a way to let all of our employees relocate 

their workstations to different places as needed, 

flexibly and in a way that suits them. AGILOX 

believes in the value of a shared corporate culture – a 

culture that plays a distinctive role in the innovation 

and creativity we bring to our work as a technology 

leader in Upper Austria”, says Josef Baumann-Rott, 

Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of AGI- 

LOX. 

Conclusion: 

While the two AGILOX sites feature a homogenous 

design, they each also have their own unique features 

that are perfectly tailored to the respective requirements 

of the spaces. 





Meetings to go: 

Faster 

decisionmaking 

in 

stand-up 

meetings. 

Changing posture throughout the working 

day is ergonomically beneficial, keeping office 

workers pain-free even on longer days. 

But these benefits also extend to communication, 

which is why we are seeing a rise in 

stand-up meetings. These are not just good 

for the body in terms of ergonomics, but also 

increase efficiency. Studies show that teams 

who meet standing up reach decisions 30 % 

faster than those who sit. 

Why? Because changing position creates momentum, 

boosts creativity due to the extra oxygen being 

supplied to the brain, and also fosters a more informal 

environment that makes collaboration easier. Standing 

reduces the amount of time spent on off-topic conversations, 

and participants’ minds stay on task. 

Main benefit: health. 

Of course, health concerns are a key reason for 

choosing stand-up meetings. Office workers sit for 

an average of 9.3 hours per day. Spending such a long 

time sitting, often with poor posture, inevitably leads 

to musculoskeletal issues. Changing position frequently 

between dynamic sitting and standing therefore has 

a positive impact on workers’ well-being. Standing 

relieves the strain on the muscles in the back and 

allows the spine to relax. Being upright enables you to 

breathe with less constriction, and thereby supply your 

body with more oxygen. Lower levels of oxygen can 

cause headaches, difficulty concentrating and fatigue. 

Standing is therefore an excellent way to counter the 

afternoon slump. 

Flexible desk heights for varied working. 

There are a variety of different standing desks designed 

for meetings. Alongside models with electric height 

adjustment systems, they generally come in two 

heights: 

110 cm: These higher standing desks can be used both 

for the actual stand-up meetings and in combination 

with bar stools, so the user can switch between sitting 

and standing. 

90 cm: For more variety in position, 90 cm desks are 

a better choice as they can be used in combination 

with standing seats. Lightweight, portable stools can 

be brought into any desk-based scenario and used in a 

variety of different positions. 

Electric height adjustment: Stand-up meetings can 

be made particularly flexible with electric height-adjustable 

conference tables. Before and during the meeting, 

the user can switch between sitting and standing 

at the press of a button. The different heights available 

support our natural need for movement as well as a 

wide variety of office scenarios. 



Offices from across the world 

White and rattan 

and terracotta. 

The renovation of Casa Pich i Pon in Barcelona was completed just a few weeks 

ago. The result is a stylish yet cosy coworking space that looks far more expensive 

than the budget suggests. We had to take a look for ourselves! 

© Hevia 

© Hevia 

“Would you believe that these rooms used to be 

painted ochre yellow? With brown doors and dark 

tiled floors? And worst of all, that the entire building 

was half-heartedly ‘renovated’ back in the eighties 

with what proved to be a distinct lack of architectural 

flair? When we first set foot in these rooms, there 

were built-in cupboards everywhere, fake veneers and 

suspended ceilings.” Jordi Llort, a 35-year-old project 

manager at the Catalonian architectural agency 

SCOB – named after the two partners Sergi Carulla 

and Oscar Blasco – sits down in a somewhat jauntily 

positioned rattan chair and looks around. “I think 

we’ve really cleaned up the space, and even worked 

well with the heritage building authorities!” 

Casa Pich i Pon on Plaça de Catalunya was built in 

1922 and was once one of the proudest landmarks of 

the Catalonian capital. It was designed for the great 

industrialist Juan Pich i Pon, a newspaper publishing 

house owner who also installed Barcelona’s first 

traffic lights and even served as the city’s mayor for 

several years, shaping its political history. He found a 

kindred spirit in the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch, 

a member of the Noucentisme cultural movement (the 

“architectural style of the new century”), who built 

him a stylish, simple, ultramodern office building 

with a roof terrace and two small corner turrets. With 

his own lift – a technology recently imported from 

Chicago – Pich i Pon was able to fashion himself a 

luxurious penthouse on the sixth floor. 

© Hevia 

“This building is part of the city’s history”, says 

Llort, “but sadly it was really poorly cared for and 

got to such a sorry state that it fell further and 

further into the background, always overshadowed 

by the work of Antoni Gaudí. I’m really glad we got 

this amazing commission.” The client is the Spanish 

property management company Merlin Properties, 

which operates a swathe of coworking spaces in 

Madrid and Barcelona through its Loom subsidiary. 

It wanted to create its flagship Loom space in Casa 

Pich i Pon, demanding bright rooms and a radically 

cleaner aesthetic without compromising on cosiness. 

Its aim was for workers to feel just as at home as they 

would in their grandmothers’ cottages up in the 

Pyrenees. 

“It proved to be quite a balancing act maintaining 

the historic features while incorporating modern 



Offices from across the world 

What's on your desk? 

10 

11 

The blend of homely 

comfort and a white, 

minimalistic office landscape 

is striking 

09 

08 

media technology, ergonomic design, durability 

and demands for a pleasant, state-of-the-art workspace”, 

says the architect. “No-one wants to work in 

a yellow room with brown doors these days. So we 

were relieved when the heritage building authority 

deemed that while all of the architectural structures 

had to be protected, this did not extend to the 

colours or surface materials.” Across two construction 

phases between 2021 and 2024, the office floors 

were completely revamped with the exception of the 

Desigual store on the ground floor and the Canadian 

Consulate above. 

The keys were handed over in mid-April. The years 

of conversion and restoration work have resulted in 

white, light-flooded rooms peppered with Scandiand 

hygge-influenced elegance, while the very traditional, 

calming post-and-mullion glass walls provide 

structure and acoustic insulation, dividing the rooms 

into smaller units. The materials used on the floors, 

walls and ceilings include marble, ceramic, cork, 

© Hevia 

whitewash and bleached wood. The furnishings, 

in turn, feature leather, rattan, Vienna netting and 

bright cotton fabrics in natural tones. The wooden 

walls and rugged, visible brickwork create richer 

accents alongside a smattering of floral textiles, dark 

red velvet curtains and traditional terracotta-coloured 

tiles that have been used in Catalonia for 

centuries. 

The blend of homely comfort and a white, minimalistic 

office landscape is striking. “And we’ve done 

it all on a budget of 1,000 to 1,500 euro per square 

metre, including furniture”, explains Llort. “This 

building definitely looks much more expensive and 

luxurious than it was, for sure. I’ll admit that I’m 

pretty proud of this blend of aesthetic balance and 

attractive pricing.” The project won the Architizer 

A+Award for flexible working. Juan Pich i Pon and 

Josep Puig i Cadafalch would have loved it. 

Wojciech Czaja 

© Hevia 

01 

02 

03 

What’s on your desk, 

Carla Lo? 

07 

© Lisi Specht 

“I love living in the city, you’ll never drag me out of here”, says landscape architect 

Carla Lo. “Vienna is great, but it could definitely still take it up a notch. 

I’d like to see it get a bit wilder and louder!” At first glance, the former suburb 

around her office in Breitensee, Vienna, seems quiet and introspective. In the 

warmer months, the office door stays open all day long while people pass by 

the expansive windows. Some with dogs, some with pushchairs, some with 

overflowing shopping bags, all looking in, smiling, nodding, waving, before 

carrying on their merry way. 

“We used to be right in the city centre, but one day we noticed that the 

office had become too small for us all”, says the Heidelberg native. “And so it 

happened that during the coronavirus pandemic, between the various lockdowns, 

we started looking for a bigger base.” They found one in Vienna’s 14th 

District, in the ‘Matznerviertel’, in a former public housing building erected 

by Josef Frank in 1929. It was once home to a small branch of the supermarket 

chain Konsum. Today there’s no food being sold, although there are still flats 

above – and very nice ones at that. “Exterior planning, landscape architecture, 

designing public spaces, it’s an amazing job”, says Lo. “I’d find it harder working 

two or three storeys up away from the action. But we’re down here on the 

ground floor, behind giant shop windows, looking right out onto the city as it 

does its thing. It’s great inspiration!” Someone walks past. Lo jumps up, gives 

them a smile and has a quick chat, then we take a closer look at the office. 

Wojciech Czaja 

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Our old office had light blue carpet. Now we have reseda 

green, like the Austrian architect Otto Wagner. 

A small branch lays on a wooden stool. I started a spoon 

whittling course once and wanted to make a wooden 

spoon out of it. It’s still a work in progress. 

The yellow card is a personal thank you from our latest 

intern Zofia from Krakow – isn’t it delightful? 

Two small Japanese vases with a little twig from the 

beautiful magnolia tree on the street outside. 

The Superman is a trophy that moves around from desk 

to desk when someone wins a competition or has some 

other kind of great success. He’s currently on Samuel’s. 

I’m a passionate tea drinker. I drink it all day long. My 

little quirk is that the pot and cup have to be – here you 

go – a set. In this case one made from natural Japanese 

porcelain. 

I’d be lost without my notebooks. The Moleskines are 

my second, third, fourth, fifth brain. One for meetings, 

one for to-do lists, one for ideas for the business, one for 

private thoughts. 

My folding stool for when I’m out and about. It’s really 

comfy if I want to go outside to write something down or 

sketch something out. 

My own drill from home. When you’re a landscape architect, 

sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. 

I like the view onto the street, but when I need to concentrate, 

I tend to pull the curtains a little. 

This is an old Chinese painting from Chongqing, my 

mother’s hometown. 


© Hevia 


Trendwatching 

Office Life 

© Netatmo 

Useful ideas for 

everyday office life. 

For fresh air and clear heads: Netatmo’s 

smart weather stations for office and 

home! 

Optimise your virtual office meetings with 

Otter and GenAI. 

Otter, the AI-supported meeting assistant that transcribes 

audio in real-time, has been taken to the next level with 

additional AI features. Using GenAI, it now provides an AI 

chatbot that supplies information from previous meetings 

recorded with Otter. There is also an AI chat function and 

an AI meeting summary that provides an overview of what 

was discussed. So you always know what’s happening, even 

without the full transcript. 

www.otter.ai 

Slow down! 

From a meeting marathon 

to a gentle stroll. 

Just finished another day of constant meetings? 

Beware. Multiple meetings back-toback 

without a break can quickly raise your 

stress levels. 

We’re all keenly aware that a constant barrage of 

meetings doesn’t have much of a positive effect on our 

general levels of concentration. Microsoft’s Human 

Factors Lab recently carried out a study that measured 

peoples’ brainwaves during meetings to determine 

their stress levels. The researchers worked with two 

different test groups. The first had to have four halfhour 

video calls covering different topics on a single 

day – back-to-back without a break. The second group 

had the same, but with ten-minute gaps between 

meetings. 

Breaks: The magic bullet. 

While the participants’ stress levels 

rose and rose during the relentless 

meetings, the brief breaks reduced 

them to the extent that the subjects 

felt a similar amount of motivation 

for the last meeting as they did for 

the first. 

to a new meeting, as the person had to start thinking 

about a completely different topic. And during the 

meetings, the group who had no breaks were less engaged 

and became increasingly withdrawn. 

Adding to this stress was having to plan in particularly 

challenging, focused tasks between the onslaught of 

meetings, all themselves requiring a high degree of 

concentration. The better solution here is to combine 

simple individual tasks with complex meetings, or 

brief and less demanding meetings with tasks that 

require greater concentration. A research team at Yale 

University also found that online meetings over Zoom 

or Teams further fatigue the brain due to the lack of 

natural and dynamic interaction between participants, 

and feeds dropping in and out and buffering requiring 

greater concentration. 

So what can you do to stem the negative impacts of 

an uninterrupted meeting marathon? If possible, the 

recommendation is to not plan in too many meetings 

on the same day, and not to rely solely on virtual 

meetings. But as this is often impossible to control 

or avoid, you need to plan wisely and – above all – 

ensure there are breaks. And what’s the best way to 

use these breaks? The most important thing is to get 

some distance from your desk and work. It also makes 

sense to do something that distracts and relaxes you. 

Meditating, taking a short walk, small talk, 

stretching exercises and getting a bit 

of fresh air are just a few examples 

of ways we can give our brains a 

much-deserved rest. 

Source: Research proves your brain needs breaks; Microsoft Human Factors Lab, 2021 

Say goodbye to fatigued brains! With the Netatmo 

weather station, you’ll always have a clear view of the 

air quality and room temperature in your office. It 

measures data in real-time and presents it clearly in 

an app. So you can create the perfect conditions to 

work in. The smart weather station helps you find the 

perfect time to ventilate the space and keep the office 

at maximum productivity! 

www.netatmo.com 

© Otter 

The highest level of stress was recorded 

shortly before the transition 


© Freepik 


Office Life 

office 

must-haves. 

Creative tools 

Brainstorming, coming up with 

ideas or creative work – sometimes 

it helps to leave your desk behind and 

get the help of a little creative assistant. 

Analogue and digital whiteboards 

and flipcharts help us visualise and 

develop ideas, sketches and 

mindmaps. 

Plants 

Green is in! And for good 

reason. Plants help balance the 

room’s humidity, filter out harmful 

substances, reduce noise, provide 

privacy and also boost our moods and 

make us more creative. More than 

enough benefit to make it onto 

our must-have list. 

We all know that you’re not getting much done in the 

office these days without a PC. But there are a few 

more other essentials to consider. Here are our top 

seven office must-haves. 

External monitor 

Let’s go back to ergonomics. 

One thing a modern – and above 

all, healthy – office needs is an external 

monitor. As practical and flexible as laptops 

are, a large external monitor is preferable 

for concentrated working. It helps to avoid 

poor posture, gain the minimum recommended 

distance from the screen of 

50 cm, and get a better overview of 

what’s on-screen. 

Desk with electric 

height adjustment 

Let’s start with ergonomics. Sedentary 

lifestyles and sitting still for too long have 

been shown to damage the musculoskeletal system. 

As the average office worker sits for 9.3 hours 

per day, dynamic changes in posture are essential 

to avoid health issues down the line. Desks with 

electric height adjustment systems are particularly 

effective at helping you change position quickly. 

The combination of sitting and standing not 

only brings more movement to your day, 

but also generates more creativity. 

Ergonomic 

swivel chair 

The perfect partner to the desk, and 

an absolute must-have: an ergonomic 

swivel chair. It should also be heightadjustable, 

offer good back support 

and help you sit flexibly and 

dynamically. 

Storage space 

Advances in digitalisation have put 

many cupboards out of a job. But we can’t 

live with no storage space at all. Small desktop 

trays are generally sufficient for keeping the 

most important and immediately-needed objects to 

hand. Especially in coworking spaces, with hot-desking 

and temporary working, compact lockers are replacing 

traditional cupboards. And the remaining 

ones no longer need to be in boring grey and two 

metres high. New, stylish storage options can 

help accentuate the office’s look. 

Collaboration space 

Whether you have a team office, 

open space, or a personal office, every 

modern workplace needs an island 

for collaborative working or simply to 

gain a new perspective. You could have 

standing desks, seating areas or sofas 

– just make sure there’s a change of 

scenery. 

© shutterstock 

24 contact contact 25

Showroom 

How you can encourage 

agility and creativity. 

Workshops, training sessions, meetings, project work – the demands placed on the space 

available for teams and for collaboration are diverse. Here are four agile assistants for modern 

creative spaces. 

spyn folding table: 

Communication in motion. 

With spyn, Wiesner-Hager has developed a mobile 

folding table system that caters to the mostly 

very limited space available in offices thanks 

to its flexible range of applications. With this 

mobile folding table, changing configurations 

quickly to suit the particular application 

intended becomes child's play. Tables that are 

not needed can simply be swivelled and parked in a row to save space. spyn is also offered 

as a mobile standing table. Shorter meetings in particular are often held while standing 

in order to infuse added agility into project groups and teams. This facilitates interaction 

with visualisation media and multimedia technology. It also promotes free thinking, creative brainstorming 

and a change of perspective. With the standing table, too, the patented swivel mechanism of the table top 

quickly creates space when the tables are no longer needed. 

motiv – s: 

Arrive – sit down – get started. 

The compact office chair motiv_s with its low upholstered back was 

developed specifically for agile, temporary work settings with different 

users. The round shape of the seat combined with an oval 

upholstered back ensures high seating comfort, maximum 

freedom of movement and active back support – even during 

dynamic position changes and lateral movements. The 

design of motiv_s plays with charming design references 

from the history of swivel chairs and combines them with 

a state-of-the-art mechanical concept for automatic weight 

detection. No further adjustment is 

needed as the mechanics automatically 

adjust the backrest pressure. 

spyn sit-stand: 

Agile, flexible, intuitive. 

Anyone who pays attention to how their body feels will notice 

immediately when standing becomes too strenuous and it is time 

for a change of posture. The spyn sit-stand provides valuable assistance 

here. Being a light, movable stool, it can be easily pulled 

up into any standing situation and used in different positions. 

The curved base plate made of slip-resistant natural cork keeps 

the user constantly in motion and prevents them from returning 

to a typically static sitting position. The gas spring enables the 

seat height to be adjusted with ease. To sum up: the spyn sitstand 

promotes agility during meetings and encourages 

intuitive changes of position. 

spyn whiteboard: 

Your agile idea catcher. 

The spyn whiteboard was especially developed to meet the 

needs of creative working and communication settings. It is 

fully mobile to support rapid changes in task. Its centrepiece 

is the double-sided whiteboard. Measuring 180 x 80 cm and 

weighing just 7 kg, it is incredibly flexible to use – either 

freestanding with the matching stool or leant against or hung 

on the wall. The board has two magnetic edges to hold pens, 

board erasers and flipchart holders. 



Inspiration. Creativity. Design. 

The new product lookbook. 

Lots of furniture, lots of options, lots of creativity. Our product overview gives you a taste of 

our full range. The latest lookbook takes you on a journey into our product world full of tables 

and desks, seating, storage options and room systems. 

Request product 

overview as print 

brochure

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