Work Culture

Pallavi Dean rethinks the contemporary work space with her chic design for Edelman’s Abu Dhabi headquarters.

- Joanne Molina

While others debate the virtue of open office spaces, Dubai-based interior designer Pallavi Dean has forged her own innovative path with Edelman’s Abu Dhabi office. Vibrant and distinctive, its design is alive with a choreography that fuses individual impact and community cohesion.

Dean’s design concept was modelled on the idea of ‘cultural villages’, the distinct little neighbourhoods that help make up great cities – such as Soho and the Upper West Side in NYC. Each neighbourhood has its own unique personality, people and purpose – yet they’re all linked by a common thread.

This created a framework in which Dean could create a bold, nuanced space and speak to the ethos and practical needs of her client, a firm that also consists of a series of distinct units such as public relations, digital and experiential – each with their own unique characteristics, yet integrated into a greater whole.

There are many details the casual observer might overlook. “It’s the underlying narrative of the design – the concept of cultural villages that create distinct work zones. Although the work zones have their own identity they are threaded together by one sweeping architectural statement – the sculptural wooden ribbon that runs through the entire floor plate. The office is peppered with local context, including the palm stools in the one-on-one meeting areas, which are by Emirati designer Khalid Shafar; and the arabesque pattern in the lights and the carpet, designed by Cecilia Setterdahl, a local studio in d3,” explains Dean.

The design’s most prominent feature was also its challenge: linearity. The designers solved this problem by drawing on research from environmental psychology.