—
WeTransfer

Location: Amsterdam | De 9 Straatjes (Nine Streets)

WeTransfer HQ in Amsterdam is a collaboration hub of inspiration and togetherness, marrying functionality with seamless technology while capturing the brand’s values of championing ideas and connecting the world with creativity.

For a young, dynamic workforce, the new central location in the heart of Amsterdam was integral, with the neighbourhood instilling an atmosphere of vitality before even stepping foot into the office. Here, the remote-first team can come together conveniently, create meaningful connections, and build a strong sense of community.

Designing for a sustainable future

Being a B Corp, WeTransfer takes responsibility for balancing people, the planet, and profit. We wanted to ensure that the office aligned with their sustainability standards and that we designed to achieve the “In-Use” BREEAM certification.

First and foremost, WeTransfer sought to translate their workforce’s needs into the foundation of the new design. To facilitate this, we held engagement sessions to understand their requirements, how they work and ways we could cater to and balance the varying needs of individual departments. We built flexible, multi-functional spaces and purpose-built areas for different types of employees. We considered creative teams working in advertising, marketing and on the WePresent platform who thrive in energetic, collaborative huddle spaces. We also ensured the design accommodated those in tech, such as engineers, who require quiet desk areas for high-focus, uninterrupted work.

The building is comprised of five Amsterdam townhouses sharing the same floor plan. At its centre, we constructed a multi-functional café space, which includes tiered seating and serves as a communal area to hold workshops, welcome artists to exhibit their work, hold presentations, or just be used as an informal place for staff to eat lunch together and socialise, which is a large part of their culture. We paid homage to their well-known graphics in the form of glass manifestations, signage and way-finding, as well as their technological spirit with the addition of display screens that show curated content and with the integration of seamless technology throughout the office.

Reflecting brand purpose through the workplace

Of the utmost importance to WeTransfer was to reinforce the brand’s sense of purpose, which extends far beyond just transferring files. Their mission is to support the creative world, with the company donating up to 30% of its advertising space to support artists and social causes. After we learned about their close connection with artists and the creative fields, we wanted to create a “gallery”, an exhibition space that could be flexible and adaptable to host different artists to showcase their work.

Creating a sense of belonging

Unlike a traditional office setting, the aim was also to humanise the workplace via homely decor that radiated a sense of hospitality and warmth. This included subtle details such as vintage furniture, recycled furniture from the former office, ambient lighting and personalisable elements to encourage the workforce to have a sense of ownership and make the space their own. In a nod to Amsterdam, and WeTransfer’s commitment to sustainability, we often utilised authentic, locally-sourced materials made in the Netherlands, down to small attention-to-detail considerations such as commissioning Dutch artists to create the tiles for the tea points. All of this imbues the space with a sense of comfort and wellbeing to boost creativity and enable the staff to further connect with their colleagues and clients.