Cheppers moved into a new office

Cheppers recently renovated its new, 250 m2 office on Szent István Boulevard in a grand, old-fashioned apartment building, and now the company is expanding once again. By merging turn of the century atmosphere with industrial milieu, the fantastic team at Térkultúra created a truly exciting interior.

It's always challenging to create an office in a grand, but old and somewhat shabby building. While large, modern office buildings are designed to host workplaces, these old buildings are meant for living spaces. Most of these residential buildings are in poor technical and physical condition, which adds to the challenges of those who aim to turn these spaces into offices. Not only does the apartment need to be fully renovated, you need to find a balance between the image and aesthetic of the company, today's interior design standards, and the need to set up the necessary technological hardware.

Cheppers works on web services and web development, and it's growing at lightspeed. The company doubled in size in 2015, so they moved into a larger office that suits their growing needs. As their previous office was in a bustling part of downtown Budapest, on Dessewfy Street, the team's first requirement for their new office was to stay in a central location. They didn't want to move into an office building, so they stuck to the cultural heart of Budapest, where they could create a workspace that reflects their image. This is how they found the beautiful old apartment building on Szent István Boulevard, next to 'Vígszínház', where they furnished their 250 m2 space, and [will soon begin] renovation of the similarly sized, neighboring apartment.

The natural features of the original space affected the design. The renovated space is a mix of smaller rooms that open on to one another, evoking the feeling of an old, upper-middle class apartment, and larger rooms, where walls were knocked out to create space that is more airy and open. The industrial feeling is a defining aesthetic experience, raw brick walls and arches, along with plants in old oil barrels, lights previously used in factories, and discarded lockers. The combination of these features creates a very impressive interior. The dominant color scheme is black and white, [with yellow and green accents]. The ceiling's decoration was embellished with squares of fake grass, which looks like a reaction to the park master's complaint in the legendary movie, Égigérő fű [Hungary, 1979]: “The only thing that will be missed is the nice, green lawn”.

The office has open plan workspaces, a management room, meeting rooms, and fun details like the wallpaper with the, “Do or do not, there is no try” quote. In the center of the office there is a community sanctuary, furnished with design furniture by: Attila Kaári and Károly Rakita. One of the [communal spaces] looks like a ruin pub, with the benches, the colorful chairs and the blackboard wall, which further magnifies the industrial milieu. Tamás Hannus, a designer from Térkultúra, took great care in providing the colleagues with both open and private spaces, e.g. [the secluded skype room]. As a result of a conscious design process, seemingly spontaneous furnishings and art installations found their places and enhance the naturalness. Things like yellow park benches and bean bags make the space even more exciting.

All in all, we can see the result of real teamwork in the space. It is a reflection of the team’s different thoughts and ideas, without overshadowing functionality. To harmonize these features in a bourgeois interior is true art.

You can find more images of our pretty office on our Facebook page.