Stephen Williams architects was founded in 2000 in Hamburg on the strength of projects such as Malcolm McLarens Casino of Karaoke and Authenticity and the commission to design the German Headquarters of Universal Music in Berlin.
The office based in Hamburg has always worked internationally and the majority of projects are located outside of Hamburg mainly within Europe and Asia.
Jung von Matt in Hamburg
In 2010, the agency group Jung von Matt commissioned Stephen Williams Associates to extend one of their offices in Hamburg’s pulsating “Karolinenviertel” by two further floors to accommodate the agency management and the accounting department. The entire 19th century factory building is now occupied by Jung von Matt.
On the fourth floor, agency heavyweights find their new home. The management now resides in a space that was quickly dubbed the “elephant house”. Stephen Williams Associates designed a communal executive‘s office that indeed bears some similarities to one. There is only one huge table which all directors share which sits heavily in the middle of an otherwise sparsely furnished room dominated by strong and dark materials. Two small cabins in the corners, the “quiet rooms”, offer the only opportunity to retreat. Stationery and personal items are kept in custom-built containers strongly resembling feeding troughs.
The management assistants sit across the hallway – they share offices in twos and keep an eye on the individuals in their care through a hefty steel and glass enclosure. In the staff Cafe on the same floor, one feels like being on the inside of the Trojan horse, the agency’s famous logo. It is an entirely wood-clad, comfortable space for informal conver- sations over a tea or coffee, which so often create the spark for big ideas. A reference to the Trojan horse is also found on the first floor, which provides new offices for the accounting department.
The communal area, a long-stretched open corridor, accommo- dates anything from dog houses and copy machines to meeting tables in a furniture sculpture that can easily be interpreted as the track of the Trojan horse, the structure needed to keep it going – much like the accounting to the agency.
In close contact with Jung von Matt’s management, Stephen Williams Associates has succeeded in finding a timeless design that reflects the agency’s character and idiosyncrasies in every detail. Especially the at first glance unusual setup of the “elephant house” was developed with an understanding of their unconventional and radical approach.
