Gonçalo Castelo Branco, Partner and Co-founder of WYgroup, talks about WYgroup’s Beach House in the special issue of Sustainable and Human Future Offices of Líder Magazine.
WYgroup is a holding company of seven different companies in the area of Marketing and Customer Experience Services – Bliss, Bloomcast, By – Interactive Brands Agency, Fever, NERVO, Performance Sales and White – which come together synergistically to create integrated solutions in different areas Creativity, Design and Technology, and Media and Data, adding more value to our customers. This collaborative structure is in our genesis and is the basis of a strong collective culture. That was what led us, three years ago, to the idealization of WYgroup’s Beach House that now materializes in an experience hub of about 2000m2 facing the beach of St. Amaro de Oeiras. A house designed for all employees, a living space, where we feel comfortable and welcomed with open arms.
Our Beach House is representative of the culture and identity of the WYgroup. It was inspired by our ecosystem – the sea, creativity – and oriented towards Sustainability, through a culture of environmental awareness and the promotion of a sustainable lifestyle, to reduce the impact on the environment and expand the impact on well-being. We chose natural and organic materials, such as (certified) furniture wood, and fabrics, we favored transparencies, we considered the hammock, light, and acoustics, we gave a stage to the art of various artists and we valued fluid and agile environments, which accommodate the various tasks and styles of work.
In the working space, where hot & clean desking is the norm, we have racing tables, inspired by the tables where a family sits and gathers, which are flanked by a 110-meter beach walkway. On the other side, full-length windows let in natural light with an unbeatable view of the sea, which inspires those who work in the lounge area, consisting of sofas, benches and suspended beds and other decorative elements thought out in detail. We have also given rise to collaborative and interaction areas with the design of a coworking space, an amphitheater, meeting and call rooms, broadcast video rooms, and several phone booths, and a sleeping spot with acoustic comfort. The project was conceptualized and developed by an interdisciplinary team from By, which combined skills in the area of creativity and content, art direction, photography, 3D modeling, and illustration, in full partnership with MOA Arquitectos and Andringa Studio.
We believe that the future of work coexists with the home office and that in order to create a positive work environment, offices must be increasingly humanized and prepared for learning, growth, and sharing culture. The focus will be on promoting the experience of employees in loco, focusing on well-being, sustainability, collaboration, interaction, and proximity between people, which will attract and retain the best talents.
Happy and healthy teams are productive and the best assets of any organization that wants to be successful in the future. And at WYgroup, we believe that the best way to evolve is to build the future every day.
The article was originally published in the special issue of Sustainable and Human Future Offices in the spring edition of Líder Magazine.
