The Statoil North American headquarters project was a relocation to consolidate the company’s various Houston offices into one full office tower renovation. The workplace and common areas were designed to reflect Statoil’s Norwegian heritage, with a relevant nod to Texas and the new headquarters location. Statoil also wanted to emphasize wellness and sustainability, and ensure that their headquarters would be completed in an economical and collaborative way.
Translating their company values and design aesthetics into a successful program was a joint effort between the Statoil team and IA. Together, the team approached this in a number of different ways, to ensure that a robust data set was gathered that represented as many facets of the organization as possible. Staff interviews and working sessions were used to gain insights into the views of the people who would be using the space. Statoil very astutely included a broad cross-section of people spanning levels with the company and generations. In addition to the interviews, detailed analytics were applied to how space was currently utilized. Conference room utilization was heat mapped and an 80,000 point dataset was gathered and analyzed related to how people were actually using the space. These things were combined and studied to develop a program that took both qualitative and quantitative aspects into consideration.
What came out of this was an approach that focused on an efficient workplace that accounted for collaboration and human interaction. The space needed to reinforce the culture and values of Statoil and foster a strong sense of community as well as enhance creativity and the intellectual process through collaboration. On a more tactical level, it was determined that more smaller-sized meeting and collaboration areas were needed in lieu of more larger and more formal spaces, with the exception of the formal conference center. While Statoil has always ensured that their global offices are flexible in layout, this style of programming is quite progressive for the oil and gas industry in general.
The design team paid close attention to the Scandinavian brand which translated into utilizing raw, honest materials and simple, clean forms throughout, including light wood tones with high contrast color. All of Statoil’s Norwegian offices include variations of a wood veneer feature wall in the main lobby because of the material’s relationship to their heritage-rich brand. The Houston variation includes an illuminated branding line cutting through the length of the wood veneer wall. This three-degree line is an important branding element that was incorporated subtly throughout the entire building; in the main lobby, reception desk facades, and even routed into the front of millwork in the conference center.
Typical floors include an open workstation plan that was designed to encourage collaboration, with mobile white boards providing the subtle division required for a neighborhood based space. A conference room, focus room, and quiet room ratio was also established for each floor to provide zones for various types of work. An ergonomist was also included in the project team to advise on strategies regarding employee welfare. As a result, the team implemented access to natural daylight and adjustable workstations for all employees. Acoustic privacy was also a top priority, so acoustical testing and mock-ups were conducted before the final design plan was determined. A white noise system further alleviates the possibility of sound transmission of sensitive information.
A change that was being made as a part of the project was that the number of private offices was being reduced to approximately two percent of the workforce. Statoil wisely recognized the possible cultural impact of making a move of this type so the project team engaged in a robust change management effort which made the transition much more smoothly.
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