African project
Oracle offices – Ghana
O
OA partnered with HOK (UK) and took over the design development
and Construction stage as well as the supervision stage until practical
completion in February 2016. The office is located in Icon House, Airport
City Accra, which was developed by a private developer for commercial and
office space rental. The office provides space for 42 workstations on 500m2
of floor area and there are various elements which stand out, including
the carpet design and the light fittings, “But the most noticeable feature is
the timber panelling in the public areas that captures warmth and modern
design in one element,” points out Martin Orthner of OOA.
OOA is an architectural practice located in Accra, Ghana, founded by Austrian trained
Architects Martin and Rosemary Orthner in 2006. The firm prides itself in successfully
bridging the cultures of Europe and Africa by blending the extensive design and
construction experience from both Continents in every single project, large or small.
“Due to our unique composition we have had successful partnerships with a number of
international design firms including Co-Arc, Arup and HOK, with clients as diverse as the
World Bank group, IMF, Oracle and Google, and have been involved with some of Accra’s
most distinctive landmarks and interior spaces,” he says.
The design concept for the Oracle offices was prepared by HOK (UK). The philosophy for
the interior was ‘hardware and software engineered to work together.’ The design came
out of creating a space that combined the three parts of Oracle’s core business; hardware,
software and cloud, and the common link between them – technology and bridging the
age of co-existence – is represented through lines and geometric shapes fusing together
hardware, software, cloud and their brand identity. Orthner notes that the inspiration for
the design was Oracle itself, “Its work processes, functions and brand identity.”