Office Underbar

"Why is there no culture of work itself?"

Work takes up the largest share of life. More than a third of each day, more than half of waking hours, goes to it. Measured as a single activity, it’s the only one that matches or exceeds sleep in the time it claims.

Yet questions about the culture of work itself have been rare. Culture talk has mostly pointed toward leisure after work, toward time outside of it. Office Underbar starts by asking about the culture of work itself.

The purpose of work, who it’s for, and the nature of the task itself differ by person and by team. That makes the “time” of work hard to design from the outside. But the “space” that holds the work, and the time inside that space, can be designed. What Office Underbar set out to build is a space where work itself can become a new culture.

As creative work grows more central and creative roles make up more of the workforce, this question matters more. The call was for a creative environment that helps people treat work like play, over one built around efficiency and control. That call shows up everywhere in the space, and Office Underbar was styled hipper than most commercial spaces around.

Every piece of furniture in the space comes from Ordinary Service, Studio Underbar’s own furniture line. It’s a result that weighs function and aesthetics together, and a single standard that runs through the whole space.

The space splits into three zones. The innermost is the office: long wooden tables lined with blue mesh chairs, topped with monitors and Himalayan salt lamps. The front, near the entrance, is a public cafe. Between the two sits a bar that looks after both.

The bar at the center of the space is more than a shape. It functions as a real specialty coffee bar and cocktail bar, its green steel shelves lined with scotch, bourbon, and gin. Sit on a stool at the orange counter and a bookshelf and a fridge are right in view. It’s the mechanism that brings high-end culture into the office as an amenity.

A third of the space is taken up by a large sofa lounge. Striped velvet sofas and worn leather lounge chairs surround a low glass table, and an arc floor lamp curves over a palm frond. Giving up sixteen desk seats to build this lounge says something about where the space is headed. It’s a flexible spot for many kinds of work, and a spot where people meet and talk.

The cafe works as a cafeteria for members and, at the same time, as a window for outsiders to experience the space even briefly. A solid wood bookshelf against the wood paneled wall holds design magazines like Kinfolk and Graphic, and a folding screen painted with birds and flowers divides the room. Beyond the mint colored blinds, the Seoul skyline hangs in view, and a cat wanders across the tables.

The lighting stays low and spreads wide. Incense burns, and music plays at all times. Care went into the amenities offices usually skip. Instead of low-grade machine coffee, specialty beans are brewed by hand. Lunch is served at bistro quality every day, and at night the bar takes orders for cocktails and wine.

In hotels and in F&B, culture is the space itself and its center. Office Underbar carried that approach straight into the office.

Working hours become culture in their own right. And that culture makes work more efficient, and more beautiful.

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