Jürgen Schüppel», 44, is a Management Consultant and one of the Managing Directors of the consulting firm, change FACTORY. The rooms in their Munich headquarters were designed and completely reconstructed by Peter Bohn using very ambitious plans. The place feels like being in a cool, roomy and busy loft.
SZ: Herr Schüppel, certainly you could have reconstructed your company’s rooms without the assistance of an architect and probably would have accomplished it cheaper! Why is appearance so important to your management consultancy that you did not envisage this solution?
Schüppel: Customers who come to us should understand straightaway what kind of company they are dealing with - and what sort of product they can expect. The architecture ought to reflect the character of the company and illustrate the brand personality - and it should achieve this as convincingly as possible.
SZ: What does that mean in concrete terms?
Schüppel: We represent for example the terms transparency, unconventionality and freshness but also tailor-made and authentic products. The architecture should, from the floor plan via the materials and colours through to the interior, visualise this clearly and obviously. That is its task externally. There is, however, another aspect of architecture, its internal effect which is at least as important: that is motivating the employees and offering them an environment they can relate to by means of carefully designed rooms.
SZ: Which makes sense for the human factor! But does this pay off? Putting it another way: can companies regard a successful architecture also as a successful investment – even if they do not represent well-known brands like BMW or Siemens?
Schüppel: Maybe then especially! There are in any case several studies which prove that the efficacy of personnel can be increased over the years by as much as ten to fifty per cent depending on the office architecture. Architecture is therefore of paramount importance when it comes to creating transparency, facilitating communication and concentration or even creating a special team atmosphere. If the employees can be proud of their working place and if they are happy to present it to their friends then one can comfortably assume that such employees are particularly motivated for their job. Thus, architecture pays off internally as well as externally.
Take a look into our office»
Interview: Gerhard Matzig
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
No.177, Thursday, July 31st. 2008 , page 20
