Workplace design as a living environment

In 2024, our studio was commissioned to design two workplaces for A&O Shearman in Brussels and Antwerp. Rather than approaching these projects as traditional office environments, we developed them as integrated spatial ecosystems. Places where working, meeting, focusing, and unwinding coexist seamlessly.

At the core of our approach lies the Habitoor principle: the belief that work environments should no longer be defined by desks and functions alone, but by experience, identity, and human behaviour. A workplace becomes meaningful when it offers choice, supports different rhythms throughout the day, and invites people to engage with the space rather than simply occupy it.

Our role was to create a spatial framework that fosters synergy and connection, encouraging people to move through the building and use it to its full potential. Instead of returning to the same desk every hour of the day, users are offered a sequence of spaces.  Each with its own atmosphere, purpose and level of interaction.

Hospitality plays a central role in this approach. Not as a superficial layer, but as a fundamental design principle. The workplace is experienced as a welcoming environment, where comfort, quality, and intuitive use are key.

At the heart of both offices is the grand café, a central meeting place that functions as the social anchor of the building. It is a space for informal encounters, spontaneous meetings, and moments of pause, blurring the boundary between working and socialising.

Surrounding this core, a series of creative breakout spaces offer opportunities for collaboration and exchange. These areas are designed to stimulate interaction, allowing teams to step away from formal meeting rooms and engage in a more open and dynamic way.

For more intimate moments, the private dining room provides a setting for focused conversations, client meetings, or small gatherings in a refined and controlled environment, combining discretion with a sense of occasion.

Equally important is the ability to withdraw. Throughout the offices, spaces have been carefully designed to support focus and concentration in comfort. Quiet zones, enclosed rooms, and acoustically balanced environments allow individuals to work with full attention, without distraction.

Both buildings offered a strong architectural foundation, with distinctive spatial qualities and material character. Our approach was not to overwrite this identity, but to reveal and enhance it. Bringing clarity, coherence, and refinement to each space.

The result is a workplace that operates as a living environment. A place where openness and privacy, energy and calm, interaction and focus are carefully balanced. Each space has its own atmosphere, yet contributes to a coherent whole.

A&O Shearman Brussels and Antwerp demonstrate how the contemporary workplace can evolve into an environment that not only supports work but also enriches the experience of being there