LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

12 August 2015

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

LinkedIn London Office Design - Phase 1

Denton Associates were appointed to bring LinkedIn London in line with the majority of their other worldwide offices in terms of creativity and fun, whilst maintaining an element of the professional front their website provides.

How were you commissioned?:
Denton Associates were appointed via a tender process in which the highly creative and conceptual proposal ousted the incumbent design firm.

What was the brief from the client and how much were they involved?:
The brief was to bring LinkedIn London in line with the majority of their other worldwide offices in terms of creativity and fun, whilst maintaining an element of the professional front their website provides. The client was involved heavily, both the U.S. and London teams, in ensuring that the office design reflected the company's brand correctly whilst giving visitors and staff a typically British feel. It was important that being such a large social media company, the design incorporated a number of selfie-enticing areas.

How did the brief affect the materials and design choices?:
The brief shaped the decision to fashion the first phase of the design as the London that guests would want to experience, with the following phases having a more 'London for Londoners' approach. This encouraged the inclusion of the bold and fun aspects of London life like the iconic phone box, details from a typical London street and the 'Big Ben' and 'Changing of the Guard' boardrooms, complete with sentry boxes. At the other end of the floor staff have been treated to their very own bar for social events and celebrations, which includes brass detailing and the LinkedIn logo lit up high on the back bar as the focal point. On the 3rd floor, highlights include a take on the classic routemaster bus, Boris Bike-inspired teapoint seating that charges your phone when cycled and an Underground room complete with curved tile wall and genuine '80s District/Jubilee line seat fabrics. LinkedIn also try to get local artists involved in all of their projects so we called on the talent of London-born artist Damilola Odusote, who had previously re-imagined the London Underground map to stunning effect.

LinkedIn London

How did your previous experience help you with this project?:
We've previously designed and fitted out a number of global media technology companies; based in Soho, Kings Cross and South West London, so working together with such progressive clients, with young and innovative employees, on offices relatively local to ours is something we not only thrive on but thoroughly enjoy.

LinkedIn London

Can you explain the layout of the project:
The space that LinkedIn occupy is larger floor-wise than any other LinkedIn office in the world, so it was decided that each floor be split into themes. Each floor is also divided into North and South, with the North being more client facing and the South more internal. Phase 1 comprised of 2nd floor South, where the reception is based, and the whole of the Transport-themed 3rd floor. The floors following are to be Music, Literature, Sport & Food themed. The meeting rooms beforehand had been clustered to the middle of the floors, we took the approach of pushing them to the perimeter to allow more light in, make better use of the space and enable a better flow to it. Each floor has a very similar layout and head count.

LinkedIn London

What problems or challenges did you face?:
The solid floor throughout the building, as opposed to a typical raised access floor, made works more challenging. The metal access panels that surround the office floor meant that acoustics were also a problem in the space, which was overcome by installing acoustic walls and ceilings in each meeting room. The timescale pushed the team to their limits also with 18,000 sq.ft. of largely differing finishes being completed in 6 weeks

LinkedIn London

What do you feel were the most unusual design elements of the project?:
I think what's unusual is the lack of usual design elements! With each room and area incorporating different finishes, treatments and furnishings, nothing could be implemented on a broad scale and every area had to be closely watched. The Boris Bike-styled seats in the 3rd floor teapoint that charge your phone are pretty unheard of in an office, along with the curved tiled wall in the Underground meeting room and a Taxi light that sits above the Hackney Carriage meeting room that turns off when occupied, like a true Black Cab.

LinkedIn London

How do you think this project is pushing design forward? What makes it special?:
What makes our approach to this design special is the attention to detail. We pride ourselves on the subtle features weaved into our designs and integration of the client's brand, which were very well received both in our design proposal and eventual build. Away from the larger show-stealing features, things like the studded biker jacket wall in the 'Motorbike' room that depicts the LinkedIn logo, the Central line tube graphic that features each of the LinkedIn office locations around the world and other brand-infused design features that aren't immediately noticeable keep the space where so many people spend so much of their lives fresh for longer than most.

LinkedIn London

Suppliers Please provide details of product names and suppliers where possible.:
Joinery - Paragon & Edward Williams
Carpet - Milliken
Manifestation - Team Graphics
Acoustic Walls - Resonics
Write-on Glass - Harlow Glass
Partitioning - Orange Projects
Photography - Thierry Cardineau

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