Ian Shaw has modernised an office building dating from the 50s, thereby creating new working spaces which emphasise reduction, openness and teamwork. All this was achieved with a minimum of building work and expense.
 
 The client’s overriding challenge to Ian Shaw Architects was to modernize the interiors of an outdated building from the 1950s in Frankfurt am Main with as little alteration to the existing building fabric as possible. The company were searching for an open well-lit building representative of the ideas of teamwork and flat hierarchies. The project was predicated upon no significant structural alterations and manageable construction costs. A resulting 145 sqm. on the ground, first and second floors was refurbished with minimal outlay.
 
Ian Shaw’s guiding principle was to reduce the rooms and surfaces to a functional minimum and to design generous, transparent and open spaces. Existing cellular offices were demolished, also fittings and plaster finishes were removed.  Transparent milk-glass partitions were then installed, creating rooms in accordance with the golden section planning module. The passage between spaces for staff, management, meeting rooms and utility room is kept fluid thus fostering an environment of communication and collaboration.
 
Office stationary and technical installations such as cooling are concealed in large built-in furniture and shelf elements. The raw concrete structure has been exposed, a reflection on the activities of the Client, a structural engineering company. Even the lighting element, which traverses a concrete beam, visually plays with the notion of structural principles.  Overall, by reducing the program to its essentials, ISA have successfully created a clean, high-quality office environment characterized by white surfaces and exposed structure.