Media release
May 7, 2010
Open Systems wins Award for Corporate Architecture
Meury Architektur and Open Systems have won the 2010 Award for Marketing+Architecture, a prize which recognizes companies that live out the fusion of marketing and architecture, by creating buildings and rooms that represent a brand to the outside at the same time as reflecting an identity to the inside.
The offices at Open Systems AG, designed and realized in collaboration with the architectural firm Meury Architektur, have won the 2010 Award for Marketing+Architecture in the Interior Design category. Projects nominated in this category included a new prototype branch for the Raiffeisen Bank as well as the new lounge concept for Swiss National Railways SBB.
For Open Systems AG, investing in a good work environment is always also an investment in the employees and the excellent work they do. Thus it is that the room design concept at headquarters, developed in collaboration with architect Ralph Meury, focuses entirely on the people who work there. Instead of investing in the building, the company invested in the immediate work environment of each individual. The result is a working atmosphere that combines the merits of an open-plan layout with the comforts of a cellular office in an innovative way.
An office should be like an iPhone
"We have never been either the first or the only company in our field. What makes us unique is our radical approach," explains Florian Gutzwiller, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Open Systems AG. "With our operations center here in Zurich - we call it Mission Control - we were very deliberately intending to draw an analogy to space travel - because in the final analysis it's perfection that is all important here too." For Gutzwiller it is very clear, that "an office should be like an iPhone, because the more abstract and complex a product or service is, the more important its design becomes."
Making work more fun
For the management, this award is confirmation that architecture makes a key contribution to positioning a brand to the inside and to the outside. CEO Martin Bosshardt sees numerous other reasons for Open Systems to continue to place great importance on the architectural design of the work environment: "Our corporate architecture makes our daily work easier, by creating order, aiding concentration, facilitating communication, supporting processes, shaping the brand and - a very significant point - making work more fun!"
The Award for Marketing+Architektur has been presented this year for the second time already. In a process over several stages, the 12-strong Award jury finally whittled down the 85 candidates and nominated 26 outstanding projects in six categories. The Award was presented to the six winners at an official ceremony held at the Lucerne Culture and Convention Centre.
We are pleased to provide reproducible photos and video clips of the office premises on request.
