project details
Client: Group M
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Size: 27,986 sft.
Project Completed: 2018
Type: Workplace
Industry: Agency
Collective Members: Studio Grasshopper
project summary
Mindshare is a global media agency network of 9,300 people across 86 countries. The company was founded in 1997 by the merger of the media operations of JWT and Ogilvy & Mather, two service advertising agencies within the WPP Group. They share their space with their parent company, Group M, in their Thailand offices. Group M is a global media company, with over 63,000 employees and more than $45B in annual media investment through agencies.
With the help of Paperspace Asia, the agencies were able to:
- Organize the workspace and create opportunities with an ABW and Hot Desking concept.
- Preserve the company’s need for privacy while improving company culture through a common area in the center of their offices.
- Overall highlighting the organization’s identity with the brand’s color throughout the entire workspace.
the challenge
A directive from Group M HQ was to gradually implement an ABW and Hot Desking solution for the company’s plans for expansion despite their decision to stay in the same building. They were in the middle of updating their policy to have a 60% fixed desking and 40% hot desking ratio across their offices globally. This instruction was paramount in designing the layout properly.
Moreover, the client expressed 2 major concerns: First, the main work areas were too crowded and disorganized. Second, the atrium spanning 3 floors was drab, and was not being used by employees. Hence, the project consisted of renovating 40,000 sq. ft. of office space. Both agencies were composed of several, separate business units, each having their own set of projects and tasks confidential from one another. Considering this, many of the employees kept to their own workstations and did not promote engagement between employees.
Despite being Paperspace’s first project in its history upon founding, Paperspace became the main contact for the entire project thanks to the work of Sombat Ngamchalermsak, Co-Founder of Paperspace. Before being able to deliver a concept to the client, Paperspace had to first present a company profile, introducing the brand and new business model. Competing against other pitch concepts from different companies, Sombat had to showcase his experience with Design and make a commitment to work on the project until the end.
the solution
To address the first concern, the main work area was divided into two wings, creating one single pantry in the center of the floor for employees to meet other people in the company and improve company culture. Specific wings used the hot desking system, while others were fixed. Certain wings also included more storage space, to allow departments like HR and Finance to remain organized. “In-between discussion areas,” small wall-pockets with sofa benches, were added across the building. These allowed for brief and private chats between employees, which promoted collaboration.
An overhanging ceiling divider with a gradient from Blue to Purple was added to the center of the atrium to differentiate floors. This represented the brand colors for the agency that resided on that respective level: Blue for Group M, and Purple for Mindshare. These colors were also introduced to the entire floor within office spaces. Walls surrounding the atrium were also opened up using frosted glass windows, which allowed you to see through offices and halls across entire wings, while still retaining privacy.
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