Our client CREC - one of the leading co-working companies in Barcelona  - profiled the brief.

The project had to translate into spaces the laudable goal of the initiative, transforming five never used, neglected, bricked and empty premises on the ground floor of social housing blocks into attractive, vibrant workspaces where small companies would want to set up their offices.

The budget was tight, the project had to make the most of the spaces, give visibility to the coworking onto the neighbourhood, communicating openness, still keeping the safety of its contents in an area with security problems.

The floor to ceiling windows thought to have maximum visibility from the street, maximize the light and views on the small garden facing the spaces while playing with the white net mesh shutters as the lighter, less aggressive mean to keep the coworking safe once closed.

Two of the five spaces were unified in one bigger, central one that incorporates the kitchen communal area. The white mesh theme of the window shutters reappears in the kitchen space that features a net mezzanine – reachable through a perforated metal stairs ramp – a giant hammock that works as a relaxing area for the coworkers. Needing to find a relax area having little or none space for it, we opted to have and suspended instead of occupying part of the kitchen space. 

Each of the five spaces was given a distinctive colour and can host various professionals.

Colours were painted directly on the existing brick walls and on the toilets volumes, as a mean to contain costs, still retaining the nature of the spaces and playing with rough textures. The upper part is painted white to reflect the light coming from the big windows around the offices. This visually creates a horizon and allows the use of colour without it being excessive.

Concrete pillars were left unpainted and rough, carrying writings and marks of the spaces previous life, in stark contrast with the new image and use of the spaces. 

A bright coloured circle hangs above each space, identifying each area, carrying an indirect line of LEDs that reflects onto the white walls and ceilings for general lighting, and doubling as a noise buffer.

The trapeze-shaped tables were designed by CaSA (as well as the rectangular ones) in order to interlock in different ways, creating various configurations and enhance a sense of small community among coworkers. Each table features a white net in its central part that can be used to hang papers, office hardware or plants; the mesh acts as a filter helping giving visual privacy to each user. Tables are equipped with two adjustable led lights, one on each side, for additional, personalised lighting.

The logo of Sinèrgics takes the five colours of each space and blends them together in a circle that reflects the joint effort of the workers for the success of the co-working and the neighbourhood that hosts it.