Whereas in the past it was a benefit to work from home, the pandemic has made offices now more of a reward. Nevertheless, Alza expanded the premises of its headquarters by another floor with an area of 6,000 m2. "In connection with the dynamic growth of the company, we needed to find a long-term sustainable model of working with space. The entire floor is therefore designed with an emphasis on flexibility,” explains Jan Moudřík, Director of Expansion and Facilities at Alza. In addition, the company expects that it will probably always take a different approach to work, combine workplaces and offices will be used more for creative meetings and negotiations. Emphasis was therefore placed on creating a variety of collaborative spaces, both meeting rooms and shared jobs in the spirit of coworking.
The renovated premises on the second floor of the former soda room offer 27 new meeting rooms, each of which is furnished in a different style. "We have come to the conclusion that the stylistically different meeting rooms are better remembered by the employees and they will not have to waste time looking for them. The thematically similar ones are successful at first glance, but they have not worked in practice, "Moudřík explained why instead of classic rooms with unified tables, chairs and projection equipment, we can find, for example, a station waiting room, library or cinema equipped with real Boeing seats. The greatest attention of visitors is attracted by the restored truck Saviem from 1961. In order for this predecessor of the legendary Avia to become a meeting place called Truck, Alza employees devoted tens of hours of their free time to its restoration.
The central space, which will eventually be used for meetings of larger groups of employees and mass presentations, is dominated by a café. It provides space for informal meetings of Alza employees and their guests. Thanks to the prepared facilities, it will be possible to provide a wider range of cold and hot snacks here after the pandemic situation has improved. "The heart of every company is a coffee machine, we have a straight cafe. So now two," commented Jan Moudřík on the reconstruction, who started designing the new look of the offices two years ago and was in charge of the entire reconstruction.
