NLMK Group is an international steel company with assets in Russia, the United States and Europe. In March 2019, NLMK Group announced that it started working on Strategy 2022.

The top targets are to increase the operating industrial efficiency and to modernize operating procedure.

Moscow

1 500 m²

Project Status

Finished

Total Area

Location

// About the project

Modernization of the operating procedure is carried out by implementing adaptable working space, taking into account advanced methods of project design work. Such an approach ensures the company's long-term competitiveness, dynamic development, value appreciation of human capital, and ultimately increasing the fundamental value of NLMK.

As a part of this strategy, NLMK announced a tender to create a new innovative space for making the company's smart products.

// Space Arrangement

The core of the office's space structure is the collective work area. Space design solutions allow people to work in groups using various formats. Used solutions are the following ones: a variable Bene Pixel podium, high-backed sofas that form cells, rooms for private sessions and collective brainstorms. For inspiration, it's possible to work at high desks next to panoramic windows with a view of historical non-urbanized Moscow.

The building has a symmetric form so designers divided it into two equal parts. They placed a conference-hall for hands-on training, lectures and presentations in the right part. When necessary, transformable partitions divide it into seven meeting rooms of various capacities.

The left part serves as a multifunctional space. An entrance area with a reception desk connects both wings together. The central part also has an area to communicate informally and lockers to store things.

Some rooms have fixed workplaces. This is a necessary measure that supports business structures whose working methods are less affected by time than others. For example, the legal or HR department.

Apart from this the office has a flexible structure. Furniture groups give an opportunity to form most of the various working scenarios.

There is no solid division between working formats. The areas are not strictly separated from each other. This is one large organism which can be configured for current tasks in the most convenient way. All the processes in the office are living. This is a flexible, easily adaptable business tool, which develops together with the industry, company and people.

For longstanding events an open coffee point with a bar counter was designed. Here guests and staff members can enjoy coffee and snacks.

// Design idea

When designing, we focused on those who would work in the office. The task of the area is to bring out the best in them and tell their inspiring stories. That's why the concept doesn't have a subjective view of architects or brand status itself as it often happens. The only thing that delicately recalls the specificity of the company's activities is an acoustical metal ceiling with a complex pattern. The pattern is formed by the crystalline lattice in metal. It's as if something is both scientific and artistic at the same time.

Working process takes place in large and bright spaces. Meeting rooms seem as premium libraries but not regular office rooms. There are many technological and smart solutions for the workplaces. They are interactive Flipcharts, desks of changeable height, mobile monitors which have tie-ins in different parts of the space.

Such an environment has a positive impact on staff members' mood when communicating with clients. They tell their friends about the company. Employees are glad of their work and their positions in the company.

«We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us» — Sir W. Churchill