With the interior design project for the BNP Paribas office in Business Park Sofia, the team of IPA – Architecture and more created a new type of contemporary workspace.
The environment is freed from the cold rigidity of hierarchy - there are no separate executive offices with “heavy” doors in front of which employees wait anxiously to ask a question. The workstations are designed as individual, dual, and team desks, allowing each employee to choose where to complete a specific task depending on whether they need privacy, prefer to sit next to colleagues, or even work right beside the director.
The removal of boundaries does not undermine individuality - quite the opposite. The sense of freedom encourages personal creativity, fosters belonging, and generates exclusively positive emotions. This is further enhanced by the carefully curated color palette: white, soft shades of green, yellow, and pale blue, complemented by natural wood tones. The selected palette, together with the use of smooth, rounded forms, simultaneously energizes and soothes thought, imagination, and emotion. The informal meeting area is composed of two stepped rows of wooden seating platforms adorned with cushions. This zone can easily transform into a small auditorium for presentations or evolve into an atrium-like space for collaborative idea discussions by arranging additional stools.
Subtle spatial dividers within the office include glass partitions, colorful panels that also function as storage units for documents and personal belongings, as well as enclosed interior “islands”- dedicated zones for relaxation and team meetings.
Playful details enrich the puzzle of color, comfort, and positive energy created by IPA – Architecture and more for BNP Paribas: motivational wall graphics, potted plants and greenery that enhance the feel of homely comfort, flooring that in places imitates outdoor paving, and even a hanging garden swing paired with colorful armchairs and stools in a variety of contemporary shapes.
A key challenge we embraced and successfully delivered in this project was the need to develop the interior through the renovation of existing spaces - an inherently more complex process than designing the architecture and functionality of an entirely new building.
