Industrial Creative Factory

Yellow as a creative manifesto

For Antipode Consulting, we shaped 350m² into an idea factory where a yellow glazed meeting room embodies the identity of 30 IT minds.

350 m²
2 months
2012

creative_factory

Concept

An idea factory in Bois-Colombes

Industrial fit-out of an IT floor in Bois-Colombes: open-plan space and a central yellow glazed meeting room as a visual signature. A tight two-month timeline to deliver 30 operational workstations.

Situation

Antipode Consulting, an IT consulting firm based in Bois-Colombes, entrusted Kytom with 350 sqm of shell-and-core space to transform in 2012. The brief: 30 consultants on a single open space, delivery within eight calendar weeks, fixed budget envelope. The project’s structuring decision rests on a single object: a fully glazed central meeting room, painted yellow, set in the middle of the floor plate.

This object is not a decorative element added at the end of the works; it is the pivot around which the space planning, circulation and acoustics of the open space are organised. The rest of the envelope (technical ceilings, demountable partitions, workstation-by-workstation office lighting) remains understated, calibrated for the concentration of the IT teams, and selected for its demountability should the layout be reconfigured.

350 sqm to fit out in eight weeks, on a bare floor plate

The landlord handed over a shell-and-core floor plate, with no partitioning or network. Contractual deadline: eight weeks. Budget envelope: fixed, with no allowance for variations. Three physical constraints framed the works. Natural light reaches only part of the floor plate, which calls for workstation-by-workstation office lighting rather than a uniform layer.

The acoustics of an open space for 30 consultants require an absorbent ceiling and demountable partitions able to dampen conversations without cellularising.

Fifteen technical work packages (electrical, structured cabling, partitioning, paint, manifestation film, furniture, floor finishes, plumbing, lighting and associated trades) had to follow one another without dead time over 56 calendar days, i.e. an average of less than four days of useful occupancy per package. The project, delivered in 2012, predates the formalisation of circular economy indicators at Kytom.

A yellow glazed box at the centre, dictating the sequence of the fifteen work packages

The single architectural decision was to place the meeting room not on the perimeter (the standard configuration to preserve the façade for the workstations) but at the geometric centre of the floor plate, and to treat it fully glazed in yellow. This inversion imposes an execution logic.

The partitioning of the glazed box is installed first, because it sets the circulation axes and the grid of the perimeter workstations. The IT network and cabling are then sized to absorb the firm’s IT scaling and run from the central box to the two zones (consultant bank, project zone in workshop mode).

The technical trades (electrical, lighting, plumbing, floor finishes) follow on immediately after the partitioning. The fit-out, the furniture and the finishing layer (paint, yellow manifestation film, decoration) close the sequence. Coordination is held under single-point Kytom management, which removes the interfaces between fifteen work packages over a 56-day schedule.

The envelope materials (partitions, finishes, glazing) are selected for demounting and replacement, the practical condition of the flexibility Antipode sought. The furniture, new, is chosen from standard ranges to hold the fixed budget while ensuring a finish consistent with the visual signature.

30 workstations delivered in eight weeks, 95% reusable furniture

The floor plate was returned to service within the contractual eight-week deadline, with 30 workstations operational from the first day of occupancy.

The bet on the yellow glazed box at the centre, rather than on the perimeter, produces two observable effects: the consultants retain direct access to the façade and natural light, and the meeting room becomes the visual reference point cited by visitors and teams alike to orient themselves across the floor plate.

On the circularity side, measured retrospectively on the basis of the material and furniture choices: 95% of the installed furniture is reusable, 90% of the components are recyclable, 90% are repairable, 30% already incorporate recycled material, a level consistent with the 2012 market offer.

On the internal Kytom radar: customisation 5/5, design 5/5, project management 4/5, functionality of the 30 workstations 4/5 validated by the consultants’ daily use.

350

sq m transformed

months of work

workstations

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