New office of Raiffeisenbank technology division 

Year
2020
Client
Raiffeisenbank
Type of Premises
New office
Area To Design
4000 м2
Address

Megapolis Mall, Andropova Avenue 8, Moscow

Main idea and goals

Raiffeisenbank is a Russian commercial bank, a subsidiary of the Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International. But this office was intended for banking developers, for the technology division, so the working title that we adopted for ourselves at that moment was Raiffeisen-not-bank.

Our team had to think a lot to come up with a story that the customer could develop and maintain. What will the employees be able to tell when answering the question of their acquaintances: what is your office? Not immediately, but found a theme suitable for a financial institution. Inspired by nature – this is the most limitless and fertile theme for creativity. We decided to divide the large open office space into 4 natural zones (steppe, taiga, tundra, arctic), overlaid a map of immense Russia, from warm steppe regions, through taiga forests, through the beauty of the tundra to the cold north and arctic landscapes. It turned out to be a trip – in 5 minutes to go through the entire office, as in five minutes through the whole Russia. This idea was implemented not obviously, but at the level of associations. This was also the main challenge.

We have defined the main task for ourselves as follows: to offer new planning solutions, functions of work, new materials, technologies that were not previously used in the offices of the bank.

This is one of the few offices where, in the course of work, the initially proposed concept changed almost 100%, because the project was developing rapidly, and good, well-thought-out things take time.

Customer Comments

The new office is a modern hybrid space that combines a creative environment for inter-team interaction and comfortable personal zones for those who need to fully focus on work.

Now employees of the Moscow back office of Raiffeisenbank occupy two buildings – on the Garden Ring near the Smolenskaya metro station and in Technopark. The third office in the Nagatino I-Land business park, intended for grocery and IT teams, is still under construction; it will not be possible to work there until the end of 2023. In the meantime, employees of digital divisions were accommodated in a rented space in the Megapolis business center, a minute’s walk from the office in Technopark. The buildings are so close that employees can see each other through the window if they wish. On the other side of the building there is a view of the Dream Island amusement park.

Of the new atypical things that we managed to implement in our office, we will mention a few:

  • Special room for brainstorming. This cozy space with sofas, armchairs, a projector, a board for writing ideas is ideal for informal communication and business creativity.
  • An amphitheater where you can gather to just have a coffee with colleagues or perform with a stand-up.
  • Conference hall. It has modern and convenient equipment. In particular, two cameras are provided: one is aimed at the speaker, and the second is able to quickly identify the person who is asking the question in the hall and focus on him.
  • Sleep capsules. The office has six capsules for a short rest during the day. They have Wi-Fi, sockets, lighting, ventilation, change of bedding and a curtain.
  • Friendly air conditioners. Engineers used non-standard cassette air conditioners that evenly distribute air flows and do not create blowing zones in the premises. By the way, in an hour the air in the office is completely renewed three times.
  • Peace and quiet. Colleagues paid a lot of attention to acoustic solutions and used special sound-absorbing materials in the decoration.

Taking care of nature

When equipping the office, we took into account the maximum environmental requirements, and this applies not only to construction and finishing materials. It also uses lighting and temperature control, introduces energy and water saving systems, and provides for separate waste collection and waste disposal during operation.

Safe environment

We have reduced the number of workplaces planned at first, and this has allowed to significantly increase the distance between employees. Sanitizers are installed everywhere on the territory, contactless mixers are provided.

The new office is a modern comfortable hybrid space that combines a creative environment for inter-team interaction and comfortable personal zones for those who need to fully focus on work.

It was a big challenge for our team, because we had to solve three problems:

– Create a feature-rich hybrid workspace on a tight schedule

– Experiment with different types of design, architectural and engineering solutions that we could use in the future

– Stay in the budget

When arranging the office, we took into account environmental requirements, and this applies not only to construction and finishing materials. It also uses lighting and temperature control, introduces energy and water saving systems, and provides for separate waste collection and waste disposal during operation.

Amount of work
  • General design with linkage of adjacent sections
  • Office technology project
  • Architectural interiors
  • Internal engineering systems
Design stages
  1. Concept
  2. Preliminary design
  3. Tender package of design documentation for the selection of a construction company
  4. Support for tender procedures
  5. Working documentation
  6. Author’s supervision
The project team
  • Project architect: Lobanov Denis
  • Creative designer: Kasyanova Anna
  • Architects: Igor Eroshkin, Nikita Vylkov