Words Patrick Kasingsing
Images MullenLowe TREYNA
A homecoming
For the hard-working folks of Makati-based advertising agency MullenLowe TREYNA, the integration of balikbayan box cardboard fillings in their new office’s interiors couldn’t have been more apt. Homecoming was a recurring theme for the firm from the middle of the pandemic up to what is hopefully its tail end. Just last year, MullenLowe’s local shareholders became the majority equity holders after a mutually-agreed sale of shares from its foreign holding company. It was a pivotal moment that marked the return of the agency responsible for some of the country’s most memorable campaigns (SM’s iconic “We’ve got it all for you” tagline and Purefoods’ adorable “Carlo” TVC among others) to Filipino hands. In more literal terms, a homecoming of sorts is inevitable as the pandemic’s hold on the country loosens and companies have gradually started asking employees to return to the office.
Pandemic notwithstanding, the company sunk in considerable time and resources to reinvent its space in an Ayala CBD skyscraper. A run-of-the-mill renovation with socially distanced desks, no-touch systems, and designated containment rooms would have ticked the boxes for COVID-proofing but it would take something much more to get employees, who have worked in the comfort of their homes for the past two years, to want to return to the office. To aid them, management asked staff for their future office wishlist, took stock of what can be removed and retained from their old space, and enlisted the services of two design studios, commissioned to give shape to MullenLowe TREYNA’s new workplace vision. At the end of the arduous pitching session, the team from one/zero design co., headed by studio principal Arts Serrano, emerged victorious with a concept that maximized flexibility, sustainability, with a bit of unorthodox fun. “When the initial idea of the space was presented to our studio, there was a particular attention to designing the office as a ‘social anchor’. The world has adapted to work from anywhere, but maintaining a strong office culture is a priority for MullenLowe TREYNA,” Serrano says when asked about the office brief.
Demystifying the office
“One thing was clear to management before we embarked on the renovation; there was no going back to the old model,” company chairman and CEO Mike Trillana shared after we settled into the office’s airy, glass-walled board room. “We have transitioned into a hybrid workplace setup for our creatives where offsite work is the norm and on-site work relegated to once or twice-a-week, departmental affairs.” A framed portrait of company founder Francis Trillana, Jr. appears to look approvingly at the refreshed space.
“All the fears of lessened productivity were unfounded when we had to do WFH,” Trillana adds, but then tempers the statement: “However, management felt that our employees were treating project milestones as items to tick off and get over with rather than something to discuss, or really parse through. We think that is partly because there is near-zero face-to-face interaction during the lockdowns; The lively collaborative discussions that were present in the office before sound tired and muted in our Zoom calls…It is very hard to build a culture of creativity virtually.”
The return to the office is predestined; no pandemic lasts forever, but as to what form workspaces will take when employees are allowed to return was the big unknown management had to figure out. What qualities would this future office have that would inspire its creative denizens to perform at their best? How should it be designed so that it would be the next best place to one’s home to work in, one worth the Odyssean trip to the office?
A hive of activity
At first glance, the new MullenLowe office looks like one of those ‘cool’ workplaces you wish you worked in from someone’s Pinterest board; it is supremely Instagrammable, (a requirement from management) with zones and spaces made to be photographed.
Upon entry, one is greeted with an inviting assemblage of seating in the shape of variably extruded hexagons, finished in wood and topped with cushions; a plethora of sockets dot the seats, which well up at the back towards prized views of the CBD. Unlike offices of yore where seating near the reception area is usually reserved for guests, anyone can simply lay claim to a seat and work, from higher-ups to rank-and-file and even visitors. The hexagonal shape permeates the rest of the office spaces and takes the forms of ceiling ornaments, dividers, desks, and even painted floor markers.
The geometry also breaks the tyranny of the old office’s tired grids and straight lines, imbuing the space with a more organic and open feel. And open it truly is: employees can freely work wherever they like (though select desks have to be booked in advance). Wireless tech and flexible seating allow employees to hotdesk with ease and to work however the way they wanted. There were concerns that the lack of divisions in this new setup would make it a challenge to work with the visual and aural distractions; thankfully the cardboard box fillings that lined the space’s wood-slat dividers go beyond being a conversation-starter to helping compartmentalize the travel of sound within zones. “The cardboard surprisingly proved to be great sound insulators,” Trillana remarks, despite having misgivings about the material at first. The novelty, recyclability, and inexpensiveness of the material won over the team and it was eventually cleared for use.
When asked about the selection of the hexagon as the space’s recurring motif, Trillana attributes it to the many units that make up the MullenLowe office. On the designer front: “The honeycomb shape is also derived from the long section profile of the cardboard we used for the partitions,” adds Serrano. It isn’t hard to make one’s own metaphors to describe the space, especially one ripe with visual cues; one can read the hexagons as an ode to honeycomb patterns in a busy beehive, buzzing with frenetic energy and working for a collective good. The organic patterns and cerulean floor markers within the office also suggest ocean imagery, quite apt for an agency with a fight-ready kraken as its logo. One gets a sense that the agency not only wanted to make the space fun but had fun doing so in the process; they must have had endless laughs coming up with the mollusk-themed names for the meeting rooms with names like Ursula, Pugita, Pusit, and its inevitable companion, Oppusit.
Let’s get Kraken!
The road to occupancy was tight and fraught with logistical acrobatics: the team had to contend with pandemic restrictions, with less than a year to deliver the new office. The combined efforts of the teams from MullenLowe, one/zero, and JCVA (the project management firm) carried through wonderfully as evidenced by the well-put-together space.
The smaller project area (400-square meters as opposed to the original 1,450 square meter footprint the office used to occupy) was both the space’s boon and bane as while it lessened costs, it also put pressure on having near faultless space planning with not a lot of room to spare. The resulting office space has a daily capacity of 60 employees out of the 115 the company presently employs, illustrative of management’s embrace of the hybrid setup. What is especially notable about the space-planning is one/zero’s deft command of zones; Arts and team were able to carve out and pack the tinier space with different spatial configurations and experiences; one gets a sense of the space being much larger than it physically is. The various “flex” room types cover the various working conditions a creative could possibly want, from individual desks to cocoon-like private nooks to a spacious team hub. Furniture pieces used range from customized models to IKEA office staples like the Hårte desk lamp and Adde chairs for the pantry.
“I was surprised at how smooth the construction went for the renovation,” Trillana, who served as project manager for the 2016 renovation of the office shares, “It went by pretty well considering the circumstances!” When asked to compare and contrast the office’s new look with its previous guise, Trillana laughs, “I guess you can say that this office is the hip grandson of the old one!”
Meet me at the Ink Bar
The most requested amenity by Mullenlowe TREYNA employees was the return of the Ink Bar, an office corner that served multiple roles as pantry, breakout area, and well, bar on days that demanded alcohol. While a nice-to-have in its previous iteration, the new Ink Bar doubled in size, a generous cut that underscores the office’s new pivot in terms of use. “The office is now a social anchor,” Trillana shares, “it’s what WFH setups have struggled to be. The chemistry when the team comes together for a pitch, the fun, the tension, the hunger to come up with the best possible solution…the effort is all the more palpable and the connection to our ideas are much stronger.”
“This is also us putting the money where our mouth is,” he adds. “Every company will tell you that its people are its greatest asset; this is our way of showing how we are willing to undergo dramatic changes to keep our talents and provide them with an environment not just to work but also to flourish and be themselves.”
On the day of my visit, the Ink Bar was peopled by several employees in various states of work and rest; a few are huddled in laptops on a table, while most are raiding the pantry and talking shop on the bar counter. A trio was doing poses on what is turning out to be the space’s most Instagrammable corner, the mirrored wall beside the Ink Bar neon signage. Beers and alcohol from the agency’s dedicated wine refrigerator fly fast. It was just 3 PM. “It’s a refreshing perk to have a space where employees can take a break, hang out, and have fun together again after having e-numans for two years. I’m excited to have a drink (or three) with everyone here in the coming days,” copywriter AJ de las Alas remarks, and it’s a sentiment most of the employees appear to share judging by how comfortable and relaxed they look at the space. I was informed that a party was to take place later in the day for a significant pitch win, and it’s hard not to get caught up with the bubbly atmosphere in place. Trillana commandeered the room’s state-of-the-art sound system and streamed nineties tunes.
“During our soft opening, when management started posting pictures of the space on social media, employees started asking when they can come back,” he shares with a laugh. Now that’s something you don’t hear quite often about an office. •
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