A studio you can peek into through the window

While shopping at Centar Kaptol, you might come across a window where people are possibly crafting messages, designs or advertisements for one of your favorite products. Or you might learn something about an artwork also displayed in that window. This is the studio of the creative communications agency Bruketa&Žinić&Grey.

The industrial-style space is located in the heart of Zagreb, in a building originally constructed as the Astra shoe factory, later integrated into Centar Kaptol. The location within a shopping center is convenient given the agency’s services, and it opens the agency to its surroundings thanks to the storefront windows.

The studio was designed by the agency Brigada, recently listed among the Top 100 architectural firms worldwide, in collaboration with the agency team through workshops. The goal was to create a studio that supports qualities essential for creativity; such as openness, communication, collaboration and flexibility.

Almost everyone sits in a large room sharing long tables where they can sit as they please. Brigada was among the first to apply the absolute principle of activity-based workspace here, where seating arrangements are project-based according to current tasks. All colleagues are equal within this office, as there is no hierarchy like in similar attempts to implement the ABW concept, which typically applies only to employees sharing open-space work areas while higher-ranking team members have their own offices or separate spaces. This concept isn’t suitable for every type of work or everyone, but there are also separate smaller and quieter zones, as well as the option to work outside the studio if preferred. This spatial organization removes barriers to dialogue between different hierarchical levels since all employees, from directors to juniors, have their place at the same table.

Throughout the studio, remnants of the original factory for which the space was built are highlighted, such as concrete pillars left as found. In contrast to the rough industrial surfaces are smooth floors and wooden furniture that introduce elements of nature. For the same reason, textile is used as a contrast to concrete, not just for curtains but also for ventilation, which instead of aluminum ducts, passes through fabric “ducts” allowing for a more natural and energy-efficient air dispersion.

Great attention was paid to sustainable design, primarily through designing minimal necessary construction interventions and avoiding any superfluous decorations, finishes, or decorative details that would generate large amounts of waste after the space is no longer in use. Recyclable materials, technological solutions for resource consumption rationalization and reused equipment from the old studio that could be incorporated into this completely different space were also utilized.

Unlike areas not directly exposed to the public, the fully monochrome zones open to the windows have more character. The aim was to achieve something unexpected for a shopping center with high-end brands. The pink room serves as the main meeting and presentation room and as an art gallery (table and chairs by Nunc), while the room clad in white ceramic tiles serves as the reception and display of agency works.

The art gallery is called “The One Piece Gallery,” which is unique because of the idea that the agency intends to exhibit only one piece of contemporary art at a time. “Museums and galleries are full of artworks and visitors who pass through without truly understanding what they see. By exhibiting only one piece in our gallery, we want to provide the focus needed to understand the context”, the agency explains, adding that they hope that the gallery will inspire employees, promote creativity in the broader community and extend the agency’s influence beyond traditional roles.

Art is not only present in the window; it fills the entire space. Jelena Azinović’s sculpture featuring an anorexically thin and obese woman serves as a warning of what happens when communication experts misuse their role. There are also “Cloud” by Matej Vuković, “Well” by Magdalena Pederin, and “Playing No. 27” by Stefan Haus.

An unusual lighting fixture was brought over from the old studio, a design interpretation of a chandelier made from satellite dishes by Brigada. Also unusual for an office is the dynamic neon lighting used to transform the space for events and parties, along with traditional vintage enamel pendant lamps and a kitchen table transferred from the old office to bring the spirit of the agency’s heart into the new space.

To prevent the walls in the large room from remaining bare, typographer Borjan Pavlek created a typographic intervention on two opposing walls that read Croatian swear words that can be translated to “f*ing awesome” and “for sh*t.” These serve as reminders of the extreme outcomes of ideas that can be either brilliantly innovative or boring and ineffective in solving brand challenges, which are the daily trials faced by the agency.