PROJECT: 2020/2021

REALIZATION: 2022

PROJECT AUTHOR: Bartosz Trzop

ARCHITECTS: Magdalena Antończyk, Michel Juraszyński, Marta JAniszek, Karolina Konieczna, Alicja Zimniak, Magda Woźniakowska, Małgorzata Szlazek, Kinga Gajewska 

The initial assumptions in creating the concept of this "cloud-hung" space were the values of the law firm, where people and their needs are at the center. It was also important to be able to continue the cultureplace concept implemented by CMS - to collaborate and develop relationships within the team and with the law firm's clients.

The assumptions important to CMS and our priorities were consistent from the beginning. The goal was to create a maximally friendly and functional space with lots of natural materials and greenery. An office built with respect for environmental awareness, but also incorporating the latest solutions. An interior where employees do not feel like they are in a typical law office.

From the beginning, we also looked for a leading design idea consistent with our philosophy, aesthetics, CMS ideas, as well as the place itself. We wanted the office to be unique.

The assumptions and postulates of modernism and the architecture of Warsaw of the 20th century between the wars, whose interpretation appears both in the spatial elements and in the forms and materials used, were ideal here.

The glazing we used - providing the possibility of changing perspectives and perception of the office as one interpenetrating space - is unique. Specially designed for the CMS office, the systems are as high as three meters and, together with the doors, form a single, clean plane.

Also a modernist feature are the rounded corners of the conference rooms and corridors, which allude to the arched corners of the facades of buildings in Warsaw's Żoliborz or Mokotów districts.

At the same time, they make communication in the office more friendly and the intermingled spaces more attractive to users.

The very entrance to the reception located on the 42nd floor greets us with an unusual view. We didn't need to include a clock motif here (which is so common in such a place), because exactly at our eye level, opposite the entrance, we can see the clock on the Palace of Culture and Science. The reception area is dominated by black - in the form of the stained oak used on the walls - and a white floor of large-format sinters.

The ceiling, too, corresponds to the view outside the window, using a raster in the form of clouds cut in tin panels and illuminated by energy-efficient led lighting - in a color that mimics daylight. It is this effect that makes the 320 cm high reception desk seem even taller. 

It is next to the reception desk, in the central area of the office, that we designed the internal staircase connecting all five levels - between floors 39 and 43. In order to achieve the effect of maximum transparency of the cage with the spaces through which it runs, we decided to enclose it with glass.

On the south wall of the staircase, a fifty-five square meter vertical height garden running through all five floors has been installed.

Another unique element in this space, with a similar height of 21 meters, is a mural on the north wall of the staircase, which is a journey through the characteristic modernist buildings of Warsaw.

On each floor there are the typical office spaces for individual work - offices, which are dominated by classic shades of gray. Noteworthy is the fact that recycled materials were used in the production of all the carpets used in the office. Raised electric desks and ergonomic chairs are standard for all workstations. Their lighting is a custom-designed led light fixture in the form of a brass lamp and alluding in form and material to the details in the furniture built in. 

Noteworthy is the fact that CMS spaces have maintained the same class of furnishings everywhere - both in the client space and in all employee areas.

The use of numerous design elements. such as furniture and lighting, designed by Polish designers is one of the other main motives that guided us in the design of the office. 

The new CMS office also includes spaces with dedicated functionality: a parent-child room, creative work rooms and a video meeting preparation room. 

The CMS office is a sustainable and ESG-maintained space that simultaneously allows for great focused work, supports creativity, provides opportunities for relaxation, and fosters closer relationships with both colleagues and clients.