by Brianna Crandall — April 3, 2015—International office seating manufacturer Dauphin and other brands of the Dauphin HumanDesign Group played a part in furnishing the new, modern headquarters of the iconic Leica Kamera AG group in the company’s birthplace of Wetzlar, Germany.
Celebrating 100 Years of Leica Photography, the new headquarters in the Leitz-Park Wetzlar also offers a transparent World of Discovery that provides insights into the company and reveals previously unknown facts about the “mythical” brand, which reportedly revolutionized the photographic world and has fascinated young and old alike since it really took off in the mid-1920s.
With architectural design by Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg Architekten and office planning by Spielmanns Officehouse, the new headquarters with a usable area of more than 25,000 square meters provides a modern and productive working environment while allowing employees and visitors to see the brand in a new light. Many areas including production are accessible or at least visible to visitors and customers.
The facility also contains a museum with a photo exhibition, the Leica flagship store, and the Café Leitz coffee house, where visitors can enjoy an unobstructed view of the large company site. Entirely in white, the café pavilion has a unique atmosphere that is underlined by elegant and distinctive Little Perillo chairs from Züco and Ecco! bistro tables from Dauphin.
To encourage communication and the sharing of ideas between colleagues, the new headquarters features an open-plan office structure with numerous open spaces. This is now home to around 400 employees from the accounting, controlling, marketing, purchasing, human resources (HR), sales and development departments. The managers’ offices are the only exceptions here.
To achieve a clearly structured office environment with a standardized look, the designers opted for the “modul space” tubular furniture system from Bosse Design. Based on a combination of three components — enclosed connectors, chrome modular tubing and modular panels — the system makes it possible to create harmonious furniture with a high-quality yet understated look.
Bosse Design supplied around 400 desks and more than 100 sideboards for the Leica headquarters. By complementing the walls and floor coverings, the furniture reinforces the subtle color scheme, which is mainly black and white, with occasional contrasts in Leica red to incorporate the company’s corporate design.
For more information, contact Dauphin and see FM-specific information on the company’s FMLink ad.
