After hell und freundlich had already completed a branch office in Kaiserslautern, the architecture and interior design practice was tasked with creating the new headquarters for Deutsche Reihenhaus AG in Cologne. One requirement stood above all others: employee satisfaction. "We needed to design a highly attractive, functional workspace for around 200 employees—one that would bring back the joy of working in an office in our post-pandemic world," recalls Patricius C. M. Schalkwijk, founder of hell und freundlich, reflecting on the client's vision.

The design team anchored their concept in the client's regional presence. Each floor represents a different region, expressed through its own distinctive colour and material palette. Functionally, the headquarters achieves an elegant balance between openness and privacy—giving employees access to quiet workspaces while fostering seamless collaboration. With the client's directive to eliminate "white and glossy surfaces," the team embraced colour and material richness as the project's driving force. "We wanted to build density and intensity into the materials and colours—creating a harmonious yet visually striking spatial experience," explains Schalkwijk.

Lighting design received particular attention, with custom workplace fixtures developed exclusively for this project. The goal was to achieve ambient illumination that fills the space while remaining independent of individual workstations, with strong visual impact. The result: comfortable, generously proportioned workplaces infused with a genuine sense of well-being, woven into an overarching interior architecture rich in materials and colour. Combined with appealing aesthetics, thoughtfully designed office spaces, superior acoustics, climate-control ceilings, and carefully calibrated lighting, the headquarters creates ideal conditions for everyone to feel genuinely at home and start each day with enthusiasm.

www.hellundfreundlich.de

Photography Credits:

Lukas Palik
www.lukaspalik.de

(Published in CUBE Cologne Bonn 03|23)