New ZBI location Berlin "Q eins"

ZBI, Berlin

Berlin
Location

250
Employees

2020-2023
Project period

approx. 5,900 m²
Floor space (GFA)

combine has accompanied the entire expansion process since 2020 as user representative - from the conclusion of the rental agreement to the interior design planning and implementation.

The ZBI Zentral Boden Immobilien Group (ZBI) is one of Germany's leading specialists for residential real estate. In 2020, ZBI launched a search for new office space in Berlin in order to consolidate the existing rental space there. The aim was to find a common, identity-creating location for the approximately 250 employees, who had previously been spread across two buildings in different districts of Berlin. combine supported the project in the first stage, from the needs assessment and property analysis through to the decision to rent.

The move to the new location on Kurfüstendamm took place in mid-2022.

In February 2021, the lease was signed for the "Q eins" property at Kurfürstendamm 129/ Henriettenplatz, which was still under construction at the time. The property offers 5,900 m² of state-of-the-art office space on four floors and boasts an attractive and central location as well as excellent public transport connections.

combine took on the role of user representative for the entire fit-out process up to moving in.

A diverse consulting portfolio:

Determination of requirements on the user side,
Development of an office and occupancy concept

Project management

Design analysis, design concept & interior design

Together, we designed spaces that ZBI and its employees can identify with. employees can identify with.

To develop a common "design DNA", the guidelines for the future design of the office space were drawn up in a workshop with user representatives in March 2021. The results of the workshop were both a briefing and the starting signal for the design process for the interior design concept.

The new "look & feel" of the ZBI location: Naturalness and authenticity.

ZBI's new working environments were clustered as an analogy of the cityscape. In addition to the structuring function, a thematic bridge to the product "Residential property" of the ZBI. The functions of the areas can be read from the floor, wall and ceiling like public squares in a cityscape.

The key design ideas that emerged from the workshop, all of which were taken into account in the implementation of the interior design concept, can be summarized as follows three areas cluster:

1. the focus is on the "residential property" product.

The space playfully builds a design bridge to the theme of "living and house". As a contrast to the simple workstations in the open-space concept, there are additional rooms for retreat and community as abstract houses in the areas, which only allow partial glimpses of their interior life through deliberately placed windows. The picture is rounded off by a complementary signage concept based on the ZBI icon world and the residential property that gives the building its name.

2. materiality and authenticity.

The choice of surfaces allows a connection to the process of creating a property. Raw, visible building materials and elements typical of the construction site thus create proximity to the product and convey a down-to-earth attitude at eye level with the employees and customers.

Retreat and communication areas follow the overarching color code of the ZBI Guidelines: ZBI blue and ZBI mustard yellow

3. color code.

The surfaces subtly follow a color code and the CI color scheme of ZBI. The gently iridescent blue intensifies in the communication zones of the meeting rooms and corridors into a rich, darker shade of blue. Complementing this, the retreat areas in a monochrome mustard yellow world form a deliberate contrast to the rest of the space. In this way, brand and function are linked without appearing obtrusive and bold.

The theme of "living and house" is reflected in the office spaces: the closed rooms function as abstract "houses of retreat and communication". The normally floor-to-ceiling glass walls of the meeting rooms have been turned into room windows through which you can "look into the house". The furniture is also "homely", radiating an open and bright ambience without losing any of its clarity and modernity.