Friedrichshafen, Germany, June 27, 2022. The new software innovation center of doubleSlash Net-Business GmbH, a software developer and provider of IT services with headquarters in the German city of Friedrichshafen, demonstrates the features of future working environments. Social elements such as teamwork, community spirit and corporate identity set the tone for interior design. A well-being zone, a gaming corner, as well as a roof terrace with a movie theater and an outdoor kitchen, provide a place for occasional counterbalance. The heart of the building is the spacious atrium, which also opens up to the outside as a meeting space and provides space for digital innovation and exchange in the business region Lake Constance and surroundings. The Munich-based experts for working environments of Drees & Sommer SE, a consulting company specializing in construction and real estate, were in charge of the planning, design and realization of the interior work.
Together, open-minded, enthusiastic, sustainable – these are the underlying corporate values of the software manufacturer doubleSlash with offices in the German cities of Friedrichshafen, Stuttgart and Munich.
The parameters where clear to Managing Director Andreas Strobel right from the outset of the project: ”Our new headquarters should offer more than just ergonomic workstations. It should become a new home for the brand, where the company's identity and values can be felt everywhere.“ The community aspect in particular has a strong influence on the way of working in the firm. “We work together in specialist teams, which are responsible for specific issues. Of utmost importance to us are communication and the possibility to collaborate in an effective way. There must be physical space in which opposing viewpoints can be discussed, strategies debated, or even simply explored in special workgroups or labs,“ says Patrick Schmerbach, Associated Partner at doubleSlash and in charge of coordination of the construction project.
A WE Place for Around 300 Staff Members
The software manufacturer moved into its new headquarters at the beginning of the year, with the opening celebrated in April. The innovation center combines work and leisure areas – noisy and quiet zones – with community places and areas for concentrated work. The total space of approx. 5,000 square meters offers around 300 workstations, a multi-functional atrium, a generous outdoor area and a roof terrace. There is also an underground parking with 130 parking spaces, 20 e-charging stations and around 80 bicycle places for employees who are passionate cyclers.
The staff was actively involved in the design of the new offices. Project head Patrick Schmerbach explained: “One of our priorities was that colleagues are involved in the design of their working environment. As a result, the staff’s wishes and requirements had already been surveyed even before the project started. For the most part, they were also incorporated into the planning of the new building.” The PRISMA Group, who in the past rented space in the Competence Park Friedrichshafen to doubleSplash, participated as partner in the construction project.
Drees & Sommer’s work environment experts provided interior design expertise to doubleSlash. First ideas on workplace design and interior architecture issues were gathered in a joint visionary workshop in 2019. The result: a real WE place, where also the design is an expression of appreciation and reflects corporate identity.
Innovation Needs Interaction and Exchange
All employees have a permanently assigned workstation in an office accommodating four, five or eight people. However, space can also be flexibly designed for project collaboration.
A number of meeting rooms and quiet zones for focusing on individual work provide an ideal working environment for every situation. All open spaces in the building were designed as meeting places and communication areas, with a high quality of user experience.
The focal point of the building and central venue for meeting is the spacious atrium. More than 120 plants acting as a zoning module provide a healthy interior climate and create a comfortable atmosphere. The open structure and high-quality technical equipment enable analog, digital and hybrid events to be held, all of which can be followed from anywhere in the atrium. The software innovation center remains an ideal place for regional networking and digital projects around Lake Constance as an economic center and beyond.
Brand Experience Inside the Building
“What is exceptional about the software innovation center is not just the workspaces. It has been the shared understanding with our client doubleSlash that social aspects such as appreciation, identity, and coming together, all contribute to the working environment.
And that these values would be consistently implemented in the design of the building. We developed a special signposting system to give the space its unique identity. It involves a distinct logical method for identifying the rooms. It works like an IP address and picks up on the aviation language of the neighboring airport,” comments Luisa Feistle, interior architect and new work expert at Drees & Sommer. The signposting system contributes to the authentic IT identity. This identity is expressed in the interior design together with the corporate values, and plays a major role in shaping the brand experience.
Another highlight is the adventure corridor to the conference area. It leads through the doubleSlash universe, in pictures and stories. In designs made of zeros and ones, the walls of the hallway tell how visions of the future are becoming reality through technology, and how digital added value can be generated from an inconceivable volume of data. This is where circulation areas not only become a spatial experience through color and atmosphere, content and visual language, but also serve as a starting point for storytelling and brand showcasing.
Spending Leisure Time Together
For periods of counterbalance, the software innovation center offers employees a well-being zone with fitness facilities, gaming corner and a distraction-free quiet room. In this zone, rough concrete surfaces and large-scale color gradients on the walls produce a more progressive brand experience than in the more traditionally designed work areas, setting it clearly apart from other spaces in the complex. In addition to sports, leisure and relaxation, doubleSlash's new headquarters will also meet the need for connecting with nature. Large outdoor areas, a roof terrace with a movie theater and an outdoor kitchen invite the employees to spend their lunchtime, come together for brainstorming and meet in the open air.
“Through the software innovation center, we have given structural expression to our brand values and created a modern workplace for our employees, where teamwork and community are actively embraced. We are happy that all colleagues of our location in Friedrichshafen can now work together again in our new community office,’ sums up Andreas Strobel, Managing Director at doubleSlash.
Here, you can take a 3D virtual tour around the building: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=LCtCsEyoEPs