This Zürich music HQ uses colour zoning for collaboration and concentration

Photography: Dominik Hodel

Occupying the sixth floor of Zürich’s famous Prime Tower (once the tallest building in Switzerland), Studio Luiz Albisser’s latest project transforms a 650 sqm office space with a creative yet functional use of colour. Tasked with creating a modern, flexible workplace for music corporation Universal Music Switzerland, the Swiss design studio (based in the nearby city of Basel) began with an entirely open-plan space in a vibrant neighbourhood known for its business, nightlife and cultural hotspots. In need of a practical headquarters that still felt like an inspiring, creative hub for employees, the resulting design concept centred around creating three distinctive spaces: The Relaxation Zone, The Collaboration Zone and The Focus Zone.

Visitors are first welcomed by The Relaxation Zone, a space full of vibrant colours, rounded shapes and inviting textures. Here, employees and guests alike can make use of a lounge furnished with a bevy of primary-coloured furniture including grey boucle armchairs, cobalt blue floor lamps and low, rounded coffee tables in a rich wood grain. Zoned once again by colour, the open-plan configuration leads straight from the lounge into a shared bistro-cum-kitchen, distinguished by its floor-to-ceiling lilac cabinetry and countertops illuminated by in-built task lighting. These two spaces are divided by mid-height mesh partitions made with green metal, which subtly organise the open floorplan without blocking the flow of natural light in a compact workspace.

Over in The Collaboration Zone, employees can choose to creatively brainstorm either at a generous workbench or the central meeting table in a bold, pillar box red. Depending on the task at hand and the work style required, staff can also opt to hot desk with a handful of height-adjustable desks painted in a striking deep blue varnish. In a separate, glass-walled space, team collaboration or client meetings can continue in the private meeting room, which features sheer green light-filtering curtains for added privacy and improved acoustics.

Furthest from the entrance lies The Focus Zone, a space for quiet independent work. Here, employees can find more height-adjustable hot desks, this time painted in a deep black varnish to encourage concentration. As well as a palette of bold hues, Studio Luiz Albisser also mixes matt and gloss textures to convey a dynamic, multi-layered feel, while the pastel green carpet tiles throughout help to unify the whole scheme and offer the studio a cohesive base to experiment with décor. The building core itself is clad with veneered ash, allowing for the construction of integrated storage units – designed to maximise space in a smaller footprint as well as enable