With more than two and a half million customers, PostFinance is one of Switzerland’s leading financial institutions operating at the forefront of the latest online banking trends. This innovative retail bank wanted to take a step forward by creating a new concept of corpo-satellite workspaces open to staff, collaborators and partners in order to promote faster collaboration and agile working.
SpeedUp Space is a future-oriented network of collaboration hubs spread over different cities encouraging interaction between diverse teams, in line with PostFinance’s values and emerging hybrid work modalities. Studio Banana not only led the successful transformation of the pilot site at Bern Central Station, but also a second one at Oerlikon´s innovative district, in Zürich.
Through a co-design method of discovery including staff interviews and workshops, Studio Banana detected that the new space had to be flexible and inclusive enough to meet the needs of a wide range of use cases, from product launches, occasional coworking or project acceleration workshops to training sessions and digital bootcamps.
Achieving a high degree of functional versatility and executing the pilot scheme with a moderate investment became clear priorities, while creating an inspiring environment that would naturally attract the staff’s curiosity and attention.
A network of “Corpo-Satellites”
The SpeedUp Space network of corporate satellite hubs is based on a series of functional modules and a common design language that can be combined and adapted to the specific conditions and requirements of each location.
This new multipurpose workplace concept transcends traditional modes of sharing. It includes informal spaces for workshops, meetings and events thought to encourage collaboration between the bank’s staff and partners in an easy and intuitive way.
The Coworking Café is a flexible space for spontaneous occasional work as well as informal meetings or quick encounters.
The iconic presence of an old ATM (affectionately called Postomat in Switzerland) retrofitted into a fun coffee machine adds a note of colour and friendliness.
The Arena is a generous space that can accommodate brainstorming sessions, workshops, presentations and events. This shared area features a flexible and open layout and, thanks to the use of the STUDIO TOOLS visual collaboration system, it can be easily reconfigured around the diverse and specific needs of the attendees.
The Break Out rooms –used for confidential project meetings and equipped with interactive technology– allow teams to fast-track collaboration in order to deliver innovative financial services and products.
A subtle presence of the Postfinance brand is recognisable in the cafeteria, while an ingenious wayfinding system inspired by a railtrack system reinforces the sense of flow in the space.
Abundant natural light together with the selected materials, vegetation and colours, give a welcoming atmosphere to the Speed Up Space for all types of visitors and employees.
Studio Banana succeeds in delivering a more decentralised and urban working environment, in line with current megatrends. With the opening of these new spaces, the network of “corporate satellites” planned by PostFinance to devise the work of the future, is now a reality.
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