Unión Europea Office, Buenos Aires

Procter & Gamble established its Peru operations over 60 years ago as a subsidiary of its US counterpart. Since then, it has positioned itself among the main local consumer goods companies, producing and marketing cleaning and personal care products.

When planning its new headquarters, designed and built by Contract Workplaces, the company chose a space in the Juan de Arona Business Centre, San Isidro, located in the corporate and financial centre of the city of Lima.
The office was designed to deliver a purposeful and productive employee experience, with focus on a variety of settings that foster and promote innovation, collaboration, learning and socialisation. This is further emphasised through spatial flow from public to private, access to natural light and views, and overall look and feel.

The final outcome of Lima’s office space was meaningfully shaped by a deliberate focus on sustainability – through conscious material selection and local sourcing, universal design – going beyond traditional accessibility requirements and creating an environment that is inclusive for all, wellness – through biophilia, natural patterns/colours and plentiful natural light, hybrid work – through agile desk seating and activity based furniture selection.

The layout design was based on the distribution of the company’s programme of requirements in two clearly differentiated functional sectors. One sector houses activities such as reception, main meeting rooms, boardroom, dining room and focus work settings. The other sector caters for more team-oriented functions and includes both open and closed settings.

The project includes three emblematic spaces that symbolize the dynamism of P&G Peru: (1) The reception, which welcomes visitors, (2) The main collaborative area through which employees pass every day and (3) The dining room, which includes board games and plays a key role as a space for social integration.

Spatial organisation was prioritised to meet operational needs and ensure employees’ wellbeing. To prioritise comfort, the workstations are located on the perimeter of the floor to benefit from the views and natural light. Complementary spaces such as Breakout Areas, Meeting Booths and Phone Booths were arranged towards the interior of the floor, considering.

The collaborative activities sector was complemented by a Focus Work area with special equipment consisting of a series of pods with high panels and acoustic insulation that favour concentration and individual activities. To add options for different needs and work styles, the project also proposed creating niches at strategic points within the space, and the use of different colours to emphasize the type of activity being carried out.

Considering the general aesthetics of the space, white and neutral colours were chosen for the workstations as well as for the furniture, walls, and ceilings. Colour accents were incorporated into the Meeting booths. The graphics applied in the meeting rooms of the different work groups and the murals created by renowned artists in strategic sectors of the operational area and the dining room. All this was carried out under the concept of “Peruvianness” to maintain identification with the rich local culture.

The work areas and meeting rooms were covered with a modular carpet in shades of grey, while the transit areas, the main collaborative area and the dining room were covered with a wood texture.
The result is a thoughtful, balanced, and versatile space that offers a wide range of options to carry out different types of tasks and that responds well to the demands of the company.