Nordic precision

Code becomes space, space makes sense

1,200 sq m redesigned in La Défense for 102 developers: light wood, clean lines, seamless ergonomics, delivered in 3 months under high-rise (IGH) constraints.

1 200 m²
3 months
2025

minimal_scandinave

Concept

Less for the better. Clean lines, light wood, a bright palette, Nordic serenity without display.

Madho sets up its offices at La Défense

A software publisher, Madho is moving into 1,200 m² at Paris La Défense to host its tech and product teams. Located in a high-rise building, the floor plate had to shift from a dated open space to a clear, calm environment aligned with the company’s engineering culture.

The brief boiled down to a single sentence: translate the clarity of good software into space. Light wood, off-whites, crisp lines, no visual clutter. One hundred and two workstations to lay out, a ratio of 11.8 m² per workstation that left room for collaboration zones, and three months to deliver before the teams arrived.

1,200 m² in a high-rise to deliver in 3 months on a tight budget

Three constraints framed the project. First, the high-rise building, which imposes its own fire-safety rules, site-access procedures and a prior declaration to be processed in parallel with the studies.

Then the budget, kept tight, which ruled out costly trade-offs along the way and required locking in decisions from the concept phase. Finally, coordination: partitioning, floor coverings, IT cabling, raised access flooring and furniture had to follow one another without dead time across twelve calendar weeks.

The budget, eco-design and well-being axes, scored low on the radar, show where the team had to make trade-offs: priority to functionality and design, with millimetre-precise schedule management.

An end-to-end design and build delivered in 12 weeks

The KYTOM agency took on the project as a design and build, meaning design and works under a single lead, to compress timelines and secure the announced fixed-price budget.

The space planning was locked in first. One hundred and two workstations arranged in clusters of six to eight, two meeting rooms enclosed by full-height glazed movable partitions to preserve the cross-lighting, a dozen phone boxes and a core area dedicated to agile rituals. The ratio of 11.8 m² per workstation gave the circulations room to breathe, a rare feature on a high-rise floor plate.

The technical works packages were handled upfront: reworking the raised access flooring to integrate the new IT cabling without any surface-mounted runs, then removing and laying the floor coverings in light textile tiles, compatible with the grid of the raised floor.

The Scandinavian signature was expressed through three repeated materials, oiled light oak, matte off-white, natural textile, and a dense planted scheme, with potted plants and green partitions that absorb part of the reverberation. Nothing superfluous, every piece of furniture earns its place.

The project management synchronised six trades on the same floor plate, with weekly meetings and daily escalation of blockers via the shared site lift.

102 workstations delivered in 3 months, a high-rise-compliant floor plate

The floor plate was handed over to the Madho teams within the contractual three-month deadline, with no delay. The 102 workstations were cabled, tested and ready for occupancy from day one, with IT cabling run under the raised access flooring across the entire 1,200 m².

The prior declaration was processed on time and the high-rise compliance file validated before delivery, the usual sticking points on this type of building.

The two meeting rooms and the phone boxes absorbed the noisy meetings, keeping the open space at a stable sound level for focused work. The client sums it all up: “an office that looks like our software, precise, intuitive, pleasant to use every day”.

1 200

sq m transformed

months of work

102

workstations

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