Alea is moving offices from the classic neighbourhood of Gótico in Barcelona to the post-industrial tech hub of Poblenou, making our home a former factory with original brick walls and steel pillars.
The previous tenants had a simple open-space concept of the former factory with two long meeting rooms towards the end and joined tables spread throughout 200 meters worth of space. The remaining two floors were not used and still maintained the structure and relics of its factory era. Thus, the project of redesigning three floors worth of space would become the embodiment of our creativity and, in turn, help us redefine who Alea is.
Redesigning this property would start with declaring what exactly an Alea employee should be surrounded by. We are a company of well-being, believing that individual health and mental stamina is the root of motivation and performance. If you took the time to nurture your physical and mental well-being, you would, in effect, want to be better at many aspects of your life – including work.
Though it was not enough to proclaim “be better” and expect employees to find a way to do so. We wanted to bring the betterment to our employees and integrate a sense of harmony into our office design between work and health. This meant having a designated area for well-being that would include a gym section, a full kitchen equipped with all the necessary appliances to cook from work if desired, an indoor garden with access to fresh air, and a sauna.
This would all be placed on the ground floor where employees could socialise, take time to work on their physical health, retreat to a garden for moments of stillness, or be absorbed into the heat of a sauna with the advantage of major health benefits in just a few sessions. On the first floor, collaborations will unfold. This will be the main floor for all work-related content with assigned individual desks, public standing-desks, and various meeting rooms available for group moments.
We understood that open-floor, while aesthetically pleasing and symbolic of unity, does not always promote individual performance. Some can become distressed when the volume of the room increases or if there is much movement occurring. To address this, we are trying out cubicle-style desks that anyone can use. Should an employee feel more productive in this kind of desk, we will provide one for them. At this time, we are only testing with six of these cubicles and will see how each employee prefers to work.
The remaining floor is still up for discussion in regards to functionality. Though this will not be necessary to define until we move into the office and consider what else is missing as we settle in. At first, the office will be rather bare while we adapt to the new space and ‘feel out’ the needs of each employee and, piece by piece, we will add to our office and reflect this ever-adapting nature Alea demonstrates in all she does. So, stay tuned for photos as we update you on this journey of cozy-fying our new home!
