Rethink Your Headquarters

BayWa AG’s headquarters in Munich needed new life breathing into it – but with a key requirement: the preservation of the building. As part of this endeavour, a comprehensive interior design concept was developed to unite the exterior and the interior in a cohesive whole, a place that would embody the BayWa brand. The primary focus was on the user experience, a holistic approach to creating workplaces in which both the staff and visitors feel good, and that pay equal attention to function and brand. The core brand values of trust, innovation and stability provided the basis for developing design guidelines to define the implementation of colour, materials, design language, brand communication and workspace typologies. BayWa’s headquarters are housed in a multi-storey building that required refurbishment, an undertaking for which basic design guidelines were established to reflect the change in corporate culture. The goal was to encourage open structures, while respecting the needs of the individual entities: this ranged from enclosed spaces for carrying out highly confidential work to non-territorial workspaces for sales staff. Individual designs were conceived for all other brand-relevant areas, such as the board members’ suite, event spaces and the canteen. These spaces have quite different purposes but also distinct significance for the brand. Throughout the project’s duration, Drees & Sommer provided additional support by implementing change and communication measures and, in November 2017 as scheduled, coordinated the reoccupation of the premises.