KPMG, Leeds Leeds, UK
ID:SR designed KPMG’s 60,000ft² office in Leeds City Centre, creating a new major office for 620 staff as well as client areas and training facilities for the global professional services provider. KPMG Leeds is the fifth project ID:SR has completed for KPMG, with the studio’s role including due diligence, workplace strategy and fit-out of all interior spaces. The completed design will enable collaboration between all staff functions in the workplace, leading to knowledge-sharing across a range of flexible work settings.
ID:SR assisted KPMG with the due diligence exercise and made key revisions to the base-build, including the removal of columns, the reconfiguration of cores, revised location of atrium stairs and the removal of the base-build lift well. The subsequent workplace strategy determined how best to create a cross-functional environment. This involved data collection which identified the team’s working styles and requirements and ways of maximising the occupancy of the building. This analysis allowed the design to weave together a mix of activity-driven, flexible spaces that cater for focused and collaborative work, promoting a feeling of openness whilst also providing secure spaces for confidential projects.
On entering the four-storey building – which is solely occupied by KPMG – people are greeted with a reception sculpted from timber and bronze; the materiality of the pavilion-like reception space hints at the detailing and palette found throughout the building. This adds a feeling of clarity and warmth to the sequence of entrance spaces that include an internal ‘street’ linking the two entry points into to the building. Adjacent to the reception space is a café and client lounge for KPMG staff and clients, which further animates the ground floor and arrival areas.
The internal circulation on the ground floor, coupled with the open atrium, creates a feeling of vertical and horizontal connectivity throughout the building. The atrium lift wall features backlit current and historic images of the city and region, set behind perforated metal panels. When viewed closely, the images appear as abstract patterns, but from a distance the images of the local area are visible, connecting a global business to its immediate context, whilst also becoming a unifying design element across all floors.
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