Frame’s newly launched book “WHERE WE WORK: Design Lessons from the Modern Office” showcases BEHF-designed TELEGRAF 7 Office JP Immobilien among notable workspace designs.
As we think about the future of the office in a post-pandemic world, this 320-page book presents important design lessons from the modern office through a curated showcase of 51 projects by designers worldwide.
The book explores the various iterations of the contemporary workspace, from co-works and corporate offices to work cafés and material libraries, and everything in between.
BEHF ARCHITECTS establishes a dialogue between past and present in TELEGRAF 7 JP IMMOBILIEN
VIENNA — BEHF Architects re-used and revived a historical structure, framing the functional and creative needs of modern real estate agency JP Immobilien within a legacy telephone exchange building.
Dovetailing restored original details with new architectural insertions, the conversion offers a palpable sense of two eras. At the centre of this 1390-m2 intervention are two minimalistic glass boxes containing workspace. Integrated in two halls with particularly high ceilings, they appear to float within the opulent historical fabric, thanks to continuous flooring.
This room-within-room construction puts the modern office intervention on display as if it were the artefact, instead of the historical room surrounding it. Around the bare glass boxes, stucco and colourful frescos have been restored to their original condition while the slightly mirrored glass cladding reduces the weight of the inserted elements. By means of a screen-printing technique, a frosted layer was applied to the glass, the pattern of which condenses as it rises toward the ceiling.
In a 164-m2 gallery above the boxes, the architects placed a neutral multipurpose event zone and open-plan office with railings clad in perforated wooden panels crafted by Tischlerei Andexlinger. From here, bridges penetrate the original walls, linking upper levels with several secondary rooms.
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