Brenntag Office, Johannesburg

This project design ran concurrently with the start of the pandemic, which meant a fundamental shift in the design approach, incorporating social distancing. The concept is based on a chemical molecule, which juxtaposes geometric/organic forms. This essence was carried into the internal forms of the building and furniture. The open plan areas were space planned for a relatively small amount of people, with each desk footprint being large with the spacing between the desks being a lot wider.

There are no couches in any meeting space as the spaces become multi-use – quiet rooms can be used for quiet or meeting spaces with single seating for social distancing. The challenges encountered were space planning ones on how to combine a ‘blending lab type’ area on the ground floor with the rest of the building, which is on ground and first floor, so everything works efficiently for the client, and yet the molecule idea is carried through into the built form. The final finished design works extremely well, with the spaces bright and open, featuring primary colour contrasts and organic bean style desking, and natural solid wood in client area shop fitting.