A new workplace model based on the co-working concept has won the Offices category at the INSIDE World Festival of Interiors. INSIDE is the sister festival of the 2019 World Architecture Festival (WAF) held annually in Amsterdam.

Located at the Smales Farm campus in Auckland’s North Shore, B:Hive is designed by BVN in association with Jasmax, and is the largest purpose-built co-working space in the Southern Hemisphere offering 11,000sqm of floor area across five storeys.

B:Hive provides flexible office space and leasing options along with retail and urban leisure facilities designed to attract companies of all sizes ranging from larger companies such as ASB, to individuals renting single desks as well as start-ups and small companies.

BVN principal James Grose said, “B:Hive’s organic expression is really about bringing people together as human beings and creating a community inside the building.”

All workspaces look into an open skylight topped atrium. By inverting the layout of the highly flexible work areas around the irregular edges of the atrium, a visible community is created in the central shared spaces within the building leading to social interaction and professional networking between tenants.

A sculptural orange stair rises from landscaped planters on the ground level, visually and psychologically linking the space and connecting it to the surrounding precinct of the Smales Farm campus.

With wellness as a design driver, B:Hive features mixed mode ventilation via façade thermal chimneys that draw air through the atrium; ensures sunlight penetration extending deep into the building through an overhead atrium skylight; and encourages passive exercise through the connecting staircase, all contributing to occupant health and their enjoyment of the space.

Images: John Gollings

Branko Miletic

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