BAID Architektur

BAID developed modern "creative garages" on more than 3,000 square meters for the successful start-up AppLike in Hamburg, Germany. BAID prevailed over two competitors in the ideas competition with an interior concept oriented towards growth and flexibility and tailored to the individual needs of the predominantly young teams.

The AppLike Group develops solutions in the field of mobile user acquisition.
For each of the three business units of the AppLike Group, each of which occupies one floor, BAID designed an independent color and theme world, which in combination create a harmonious whole. The individual design ideas of the three areas are each based on their own "codec". It is reflected in their names and characterizes the respective floor: "Local," "Space" and "Code. Specially developed wall graphics and foil plots for the glass partitions form a common thread running through the corresponding areas, structuring the office world and helping employees to find their way around. Thus, employees and visitors encounter the names of Hamburg's districts ("Local"), the planets of our star system ("Space") and sequences of programming codes ("Code") on the different floors.

AppLike moved from Hamburg's trendy Schanze district to the exclusive Alster location in the St. Georg district. The clients' request to BAID was to preserve the innovative start-up character of the former location, which the planners succeeded in doing with a combination of "raw," honest materials, the use of accentuating colors, and other fun details. BAID designed an open, functional and flexible sequence of spaces to meet the specific needs of the staff as well as to map the necessary collaborative structures. Communication and discourse find their architectural equivalent in a fitting arrangement of "start-up garages" with large, dark-framed glass surfaces and axes of view both inward and outward to the Alster. The workspaces, called "creative garages," are arranged along the façade, the sanitary facilities are located in the central zone, and the tea kitchens and detailed lounge areas have been arranged at prominent intersections.

A balanced mix of different work zones and relaxation areas characterizes the three floors. Conference and project rooms are added to the offering; a large auditorium with bleachers on the third floor is available for larger gatherings and special occasions. The project was also developed with state-of-the-art technology to meet the specific requirements of AppLike's digital business segment and to meet the specifications for flexible workplaces with desk-sharing models.

BAID designed much of the fixtures and furnishings for the office build-out, such as the auditorium's room-filling seating podiums and the furniture for the open kitchens and lounge areas made of lakewood pine, the high-top tables, the expanded metal partitions, and the lockable "lockers" in the work areas. Even the picnic benches in bright orange or green were custom-made to BAID's designs. For flooring, BAID chose a durable linoleum in light gray, with the center zone set off in black. In the conference rooms and to accentuate the lounge areas, overlapping ready-made carpets are used, which also have a positive effect on the room acoustics. Their colors correspond to the respective color scheme, and the edges of the fitted carpets are either matching or contrasting taped.

BAID attached particular importance to a flexible and pleasant working atmosphere with good room acoustics. On-site concrete core activation in the ceilings allowed for an open ceiling design, so the interior designers had to work with different materials and solutions: Metal lamella ceilings are used in the "garages" and decorative acoustic panels made of felt in the conference rooms. Eye-catchers in the open areas are the differently colored, suspended acoustic baffles made of coarse pressed wood chips, whose industrial appearance fits in well with the overall design and material concept.