Cape Town | South AfricaOffice spaces
S Offices
Exclusive office spaces with a warm heart in Cape Town
“Sometimes, breaking away from the norm can lead to extraordinary results.”
The year is 2013 and within the industrial area of Catania in Sicily a new architectural development by Forte Architetti is completed: S Offices, a project that 10 years ago revolutionized the very concept of workspaces.
A dynamic and multi perspective design
That year, a prestigious Italian lighting distributor was looking to renovate the top floor of a four-story building to create their innovative head offices and workspaces. The challenge was to conceive a design that would break up the straight austerity of the standard office structure – corridor + rooms – creating a workplace where employees wouldn’t feel trapped inside for hours on end.The result by Forte Architetti is a project that defies the conventional office design, a dynamic, multi-perspective space expanding and flowing in a flexible, continuous movement with different transparencies, reflections, materials and visuals.
Neither open spaces, nor enclosed rooms
Passing through the main glass door, employees and guests are immediately welcomed by an unusual entryway: here the overall view is deliberately hidden and, proceeding towards the hierarchically ordered offices, the surrounding space is in continuous evolution and slowly reveals itself to the eye, between the curved walls that create a feeling of endless fluidity.
Light is one of the main elements of the project, adding a layer of complexity through a mix of typologies, colors, temperatures and optical effects that bring a sense of dematerialization and ethereal quality to the curved surfaces. The nature-style wallpaper decorating these spaces, custom-made 1:1 by the studio and crafted by Wall&decò, creates the illusion of being outdoors. Along with the use of wood decorations to warm up the space with a touch of elegance, this element creates a deep contrast between the white office rooms and the walls which feel almost alive
Rethinking the relationship between internal and external spaces
No detail has escaped Forte Architetti in creating a workplace that is practical for the business and welcoming for employees.
The main meeting room is particularly striking, with a large, custom-made table that can accommodate 24 people at once and featuring a central totem with three televisions, perfect for presentations and conferences. Even the height of this totem was designed with a seated person in mind, making the meeting experience efficient and exceptionally comfortable.
What is very impressive about S Offices is that the project was completed in 2013, when open workspaces were not yet as ubiquitous as they are now.
The architects at Forte Architetti were ahead of their time in creating a space that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing,
a workplace that is more than just an office to work in, but an experience in itself.
Project Partner: Mida Home