ALLEN&OVERY
flexible offices designed according to the principles of emerging contracts
DNA win-win contracts
How to transform the DNA of a successful law firm into a modern and airy space? How to combine teamwork with complex and sometimes discreet negotiations? This is convincingly illustrated by Prague's Studio Reaktor in Karlín, which designed spaces for the lawyers from Allen & Overy. The architecture and interior design reflect the dynamics and flexibility of the contemporary world. The architects designed a beautiful space for agile work.
Contract with design
Since entering the Czech market in 1992, Allen & Overy has gained a reputation as one of the best law firms in the Czech Republic. The Prague office is part of a network of 44 offices located around the world, so besides local knowledge, it also benefits from a network and experiences of colleagues from other countries and jurisdictions.
"We knew we wanted to turn the cliché of law offices with high carpets, leather club chairs, and a discreet lobby in a different direction. That today's legal and law practice has a much wider scope and often becomes part of consulting on startup projects, large acquisitions, and small IT revolutions. The agile work of the client and the challenges that the current labor market situation poses for us as architects led us to a solution. Allen & Overy is a modern and bold law firm. From the market situation perspective, our client is unconventional just by moving from the 'premium' location of Prague 1," says Jakub Heidler, one of the architects who was involved in signing the design contract.
In our architectural interpretation, it was precisely the contract, the main output of the client's work, that shaped the solution. Literally with design. With a quality, cultivated, and very contemporary environment where the best legal specialists work. Their work requires focus rooms, but also collaboration within the community. They often work from home but need access to the most modern technologies, mostly cloud-based.
Cloud & journey
Just as architecture today is not only bricks and pouring concrete into foundation slabs, legal services oscillate between a whole range of other disciplines. And that is why we concluded a contract. On one side of the scale was the client's brief. On the other side, we architects.
We began designing new offices for Allen & Overy together and signed a figurative Contract. About how beauty and light will triumph over luxury and opulence. About how the cloud will surpass hard disks. About how the journey is the goal.
Because the main output of our client's work is contracts, we embedded our work and creative output into the aforementioned Design Contract. We defined four main points in our contract. The first point: the cloud is the place where international and local know-how of the law firm meets. Every day we embark on a journey: to work, to contract pages, to complex processes. That is our daily process and our client's as well. And also the second point of our contract. Law to us means structure. Paragraphs, points, and bullet points that make sense and condition and complement each other. Thus, thirdly. And at the end of it all is the signature. The lit-up light at the end of the journey to the result is the fourth point of our shared contract with the client.
Contract full of notes
"The main inspiration for our design of Allen & Overy's offices was the process of creating a well-tuned contract. Such a contract must be precisely formulated; every word must be properly chosen to make it so-called 'bulletproof.' During the contract refining process, highlighters are used to underline important parts or sticky notes for quicker orientation among individual pages. These elements influenced us in our design," describes architect Jan Kačer, the second author, the character of the new Karlín offices of Allen & Overy. Every day, our client's teams embark on a figurative "journey" that they travel with their clients: to a well-written contract, to a won dispute, to a well-thought-out strategy.
"We perceive the role of the architect in this creative process as being to design an inspiring, pleasant, and airy environment. To play with the bindings of the space and with the functional fill from silent and focus rooms to shared spaces, to an appropriate environment for clients," says architect Jan Kačer. The main sight axis runs through the entrance lobby and allows views into the surroundings. Perpendicular to this axis are two secondary axes defining the hallways. In the sight of these axes, we designed open spaces supporting views into the surroundings. Another important area for us were the corners, which serve as meeting places.
Thoughts in the cloud
In the center of the offices around the main communication core, we placed the "cloud." Just as Allen & Overy teams around the world gather and share their knowledge in virtual clouds, we handle the office space. It transitions into ceiling panels and connects to the "journey," which is the hallway space. On one side, it is defined by the cloud, and on the other side by metallic folders. The journey opens into the corners, accumulating bar and reception spaces.
Between the facade and the folders, we then placed a layer of offices, meeting rooms, and a relaxation room. The symbolism of the creation of the contract and knowledge shared across continents was projected into our architectural concept. Our client is based in Karlín, Prague's business district. It has an excellent reputation as a bold and capable player in the power world of law, contracts, and acquisition negotiations. As architects, we turned all this into a concept that also carries hierarchy and zoning of space.
Zones in the office
After all, we are not and cannot be in an open space like those used by creative agencies, for example. Complex legal negotiations and a certain discretion are part of legal practice. Thus, we reflected the attribute of zoning space through the perpendiculars to the facade of the office building, in which the client leases two floors. These perpendiculars divide the layer of offices, and between the facade and the folders, there are inserted partitions. Desks are attached to these partitions, which are concealed with metallic boxes. We dedicated the corners of the layout to libraries, meeting rooms, terraces, and open offices. The central part of this layer is designated for offices.
And how did we use the navigational sticky notes from the mentioned contracts? Right where they need to be: indicating where a specific person works. How to navigate through the space. Because we walked through the space during the figurative journey with the client. Or the process. We are at the end: let's sign the contract. The contract is signed, and the interior design is completed.
And the sharply drawn stroke of the signature on the last page of our contract with the law firm Allen & Overy shines. It is symbolized by prominent linear lights passing through both floors. The original lights made from bent red profiles are for us the very signature. This is a contract with space, and these lights sign it. And illuminate it. They are complemented by small red lamps used in different parts of the interior (focus rooms, study rooms, seating in the cloud).
Law firm in the saddle of unicorns
The domestic business scene has recently produced two unicorns, that is billion-dollar startups (counted in USD). And so, for us architects, legal services and consulting no longer symbolize the silence of high carpets and expensive fountain pens. It is – just like with Allen & Overy's clients – negotiations, education, understanding, individuality… All of these are what we consider legal services today. And the corresponding architectural concept. That is why Allen & Overy has a library, a relaxation room, a café bar… In the interiors we designed, they can host a reception for clients, showcase representative space, as well as lead a client through the specific business case process. Or space?
Signed
Allen & Overy in the Karlín building Missouri Park acquired a modern and functional interior that carries the DNA of their work. The relocation of a significant law firm from the lavish palaces of Prague 1 to the pulsating Karlín and the concept of journey, contract, law, and affirmation of agreement shows where the progressive path of designing commercial interiors leads today.
How to transform the DNA of a successful law firm into a modern and airy space? How to combine teamwork with complex and sometimes discreet negotiations? This is convincingly illustrated by Prague's Studio Reaktor in Karlín, which designed spaces for the lawyers from Allen & Overy. The architecture and interior design reflect the dynamics and flexibility of the contemporary world. The architects designed a beautiful space for agile work.
Contract with design
Since entering the Czech market in 1992, Allen & Overy has gained a reputation as one of the best law firms in the Czech Republic. The Prague office is part of a network of 44 offices located around the world, so besides local knowledge, it also benefits from a network and experiences of colleagues from other countries and jurisdictions.
"We knew we wanted to turn the cliché of law offices with high carpets, leather club chairs, and a discreet lobby in a different direction. That today's legal and law practice has a much wider scope and often becomes part of consulting on startup projects, large acquisitions, and small IT revolutions. The agile work of the client and the challenges that the current labor market situation poses for us as architects led us to a solution. Allen & Overy is a modern and bold law firm. From the market situation perspective, our client is unconventional just by moving from the 'premium' location of Prague 1," says Jakub Heidler, one of the architects who was involved in signing the design contract.
In our architectural interpretation, it was precisely the contract, the main output of the client's work, that shaped the solution. Literally with design. With a quality, cultivated, and very contemporary environment where the best legal specialists work. Their work requires focus rooms, but also collaboration within the community. They often work from home but need access to the most modern technologies, mostly cloud-based.
Cloud & journey
Just as architecture today is not only bricks and pouring concrete into foundation slabs, legal services oscillate between a whole range of other disciplines. And that is why we concluded a contract. On one side of the scale was the client's brief. On the other side, we architects.
We began designing new offices for Allen & Overy together and signed a figurative Contract. About how beauty and light will triumph over luxury and opulence. About how the cloud will surpass hard disks. About how the journey is the goal.
Because the main output of our client's work is contracts, we embedded our work and creative output into the aforementioned Design Contract. We defined four main points in our contract. The first point: the cloud is the place where international and local know-how of the law firm meets. Every day we embark on a journey: to work, to contract pages, to complex processes. That is our daily process and our client's as well. And also the second point of our contract. Law to us means structure. Paragraphs, points, and bullet points that make sense and condition and complement each other. Thus, thirdly. And at the end of it all is the signature. The lit-up light at the end of the journey to the result is the fourth point of our shared contract with the client.
Contract full of notes
"The main inspiration for our design of Allen & Overy's offices was the process of creating a well-tuned contract. Such a contract must be precisely formulated; every word must be properly chosen to make it so-called 'bulletproof.' During the contract refining process, highlighters are used to underline important parts or sticky notes for quicker orientation among individual pages. These elements influenced us in our design," describes architect Jan Kačer, the second author, the character of the new Karlín offices of Allen & Overy. Every day, our client's teams embark on a figurative "journey" that they travel with their clients: to a well-written contract, to a won dispute, to a well-thought-out strategy.
"We perceive the role of the architect in this creative process as being to design an inspiring, pleasant, and airy environment. To play with the bindings of the space and with the functional fill from silent and focus rooms to shared spaces, to an appropriate environment for clients," says architect Jan Kačer. The main sight axis runs through the entrance lobby and allows views into the surroundings. Perpendicular to this axis are two secondary axes defining the hallways. In the sight of these axes, we designed open spaces supporting views into the surroundings. Another important area for us were the corners, which serve as meeting places.
Thoughts in the cloud
In the center of the offices around the main communication core, we placed the "cloud." Just as Allen & Overy teams around the world gather and share their knowledge in virtual clouds, we handle the office space. It transitions into ceiling panels and connects to the "journey," which is the hallway space. On one side, it is defined by the cloud, and on the other side by metallic folders. The journey opens into the corners, accumulating bar and reception spaces.
Between the facade and the folders, we then placed a layer of offices, meeting rooms, and a relaxation room. The symbolism of the creation of the contract and knowledge shared across continents was projected into our architectural concept. Our client is based in Karlín, Prague's business district. It has an excellent reputation as a bold and capable player in the power world of law, contracts, and acquisition negotiations. As architects, we turned all this into a concept that also carries hierarchy and zoning of space.
Zones in the office
After all, we are not and cannot be in an open space like those used by creative agencies, for example. Complex legal negotiations and a certain discretion are part of legal practice. Thus, we reflected the attribute of zoning space through the perpendiculars to the facade of the office building, in which the client leases two floors. These perpendiculars divide the layer of offices, and between the facade and the folders, there are inserted partitions. Desks are attached to these partitions, which are concealed with metallic boxes. We dedicated the corners of the layout to libraries, meeting rooms, terraces, and open offices. The central part of this layer is designated for offices.
And how did we use the navigational sticky notes from the mentioned contracts? Right where they need to be: indicating where a specific person works. How to navigate through the space. Because we walked through the space during the figurative journey with the client. Or the process. We are at the end: let's sign the contract. The contract is signed, and the interior design is completed.
And the sharply drawn stroke of the signature on the last page of our contract with the law firm Allen & Overy shines. It is symbolized by prominent linear lights passing through both floors. The original lights made from bent red profiles are for us the very signature. This is a contract with space, and these lights sign it. And illuminate it. They are complemented by small red lamps used in different parts of the interior (focus rooms, study rooms, seating in the cloud).
Law firm in the saddle of unicorns
The domestic business scene has recently produced two unicorns, that is billion-dollar startups (counted in USD). And so, for us architects, legal services and consulting no longer symbolize the silence of high carpets and expensive fountain pens. It is – just like with Allen & Overy's clients – negotiations, education, understanding, individuality… All of these are what we consider legal services today. And the corresponding architectural concept. That is why Allen & Overy has a library, a relaxation room, a café bar… In the interiors we designed, they can host a reception for clients, showcase representative space, as well as lead a client through the specific business case process. Or space?
Signed
Allen & Overy in the Karlín building Missouri Park acquired a modern and functional interior that carries the DNA of their work. The relocation of a significant law firm from the lavish palaces of Prague 1 to the pulsating Karlín and the concept of journey, contract, law, and affirmation of agreement shows where the progressive path of designing commercial interiors leads today.
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