Welcome to our gallery featuring the dazzling (un)curtain office project by Dekleva Gregoric Arhitekti.
This exquisite office building is located in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in a structure built in 1938 at the center of the city.
Because of the dynamic and diverse global business community, a modern office environment must respond to constant change, attending to the needs of both personal comfort and technology development. This office stands at the pinnacle of this idea.
With reinforced concrete pillar structures and load bearing exterior walls, the stage was set for a huge open and fluid space. The designers took complete advantage of this opportunity.
The refurbishment of the open space began with a reinforcement of the structure itself. The pillars were wrapped with carbon reinforcement, granting a fresh look, while the floor slabs were reinforced with troweled concrete.
The furniture was a unique focal point for the designers, fitted out as a modular system of tables and drawers that allows the users to change the configuration for their specific needs. The furniture is crafted from triple-layered spruce panels, while the drawer segments are topped with custom container gardens, with a private growing space for each work station.
The open design of the structure allowed the (un)curtain office to become a truly dynamic work space with no predetermined partitioning. Thus, a system of curtains was developed for temporary partitioning when necessary.
This evolving system allows for myriad scenarios and work setups within the space. A meeting room can turn into multiple work spaces, or a dining hall, or anything else, while discrete offices can be merged into a common space for collective work.
This truly dynamic arrangement is aided by brightly hued natural materials, from the natural wood furniture to light grey concrete and large windows. On the ceiling, only an intersecting series of dark tracks for the curtains breaks up the expanse of lightness.
We’re frankly impressed by this unique office space and hope that you are too. The designers have crafted a truly utilitarian yet beautiful space that can evolve with the always-changing business world.
Photography: Janez Marolt
Here’s a view of half the office, cordoned off by the immense curtains. The spruce desks are seen divided here by the container gardens, allowing a burst of life to interject in the thoroughly modern space.
One of the more elegant flourishes in this office is a large marble fireplace, curving around a central wall at the end of the space. The material stands in contrast with the rest of the layout, but the shapely design echoes that of the dividing curtains.
Pulling back to a wide angle, we see a grand sweep of the entire space with the curtains fully opened. Natural light pours in, enhanced by the bright wood of the desks and white walls, illuminating the broad open space.
Viewed lengthwise, we can see that the fireplace is actually a free standing wall in the middle of the open space. This showcases how powerfully the curtains can reshape the look of the space.
The carbon wrapped pillars add a dose of contrast and help define the structure, standing out amidst rows of bright, warm toned natural wood desks. With the curtains fully opened, the open floor plan feels vast and interconnects the work areas.
The massive windows help to further establish a bright and open environment in the office, providing ample sunlight and expansive city views over Ljubljana. In this area we can see the myriad configurations that the desks are capable of.
The starkly minimalist style of the interior design meshes perfectly with the contemporary design of the space, juxtaposing warm wood and greenery tones against the cold solidity of concrete and steel.
In this image and the following sequence, we see the complete transformation possible with the interconnected curtain system. At first, this corner of the office is part of a much larger collaborative space.
Now with a pair of curtains enclosing, it’s become a discrete office. The cube-based storage at right and the ever-present desktop gardens enhance both the utility and aesthetics of the room.
With the curtains further closed, even sunlight can be shut out, possibly for times when concentration and conversation are of the utmost importance and distractions are to be banished.
Now we turn around, facing the remainder of the office space. The curtains have created a completely closed off office, making for better quiet concentration or segmented work efforts.
As one curtain parts, we see another distinct space drawn by curtains across the newly made “hall.” This opens the corner office up to the larger common area but not completely.
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As the curtains draw open further, the area across is revealed to be a bespoke in-office kitchen. Meanwhile we can now see across the vast common area to the other corners of the building.
Here’s a close look at one of the more minimalist pieces of furniture in the office, a simple spruce table that can accommodate 8 people. The continuous expanse of light wood is dotted with black screws and nothing else.
Here we have one of the elaborate desks with bespoke gardens built in. The drawer-top slabs of greenery afford an elegant zen-like calm and warm glow of life in a mostly minimalist expanse of modern space.
Here’s another example of how the curtains can create highly distinct areas that may allow for better focus on a range of specialized work. This corner houses an elegant white display space.
This corner of the office sports more of the sleek white paneling as seen in the kitchen module, providing discreet storage and bright contrast to the concrete flooring.The curtain tracks are the only noticeable feature of the ceiling.
Moving back, we see how this space can be utterly closed off for a private office feel, or left open to collaboration and conversation.
Related Homes & Galleries You May Enjoy:
Exquisite Sunflower House by Cadaval & Solà-Morales | Inimitable Lva Tolstogo Apartment Project by Olga Akulova Design | Modern Forest House by M2 Architectural Group | Spectacular Karakoy Loft Project by Ofist
(c) 2015
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