The challenge

LOOM, a company belonging to Merlin Properties Real Estate specialized in the management of flexible and personalized workspaces, wanted to turn four floors of Jean Nouvel’s iconic ‘Torre Glories’ into its new driving flagship within the growing district 22@ in Barcelona. Through a premium space design, LOOM would offer an innovative and strategic headquarters attracting talent to one of the most important new entrepreneurial hubs in southern Europe.

LOOM Torre Glòries would offer the highest quality standards to embrace the needs of a very peculiar job profile: the new generation of digital natives, nomadic workers accustomed to traveling and living in different parts of the world throughout his career but in search of personalized and quality spaces to feel “at home”. Taking this profile into account, we worked alongside the client to develop an original narrative approach aimed at materializing their vision while promoting new ways of working and “weaving” communities.

The outcome

Getting inspiration from the brand values, the new digital nomads´needs and the potential attractions of this privileged enclave, LOOM Torre Glòries synthesizes an avant-garde and experimental ecosystem throughout 4 floors. While the local “LOOMERS” can enjoy different coworking experiences configured according to their needs on floors 24, 26 and 27; occasional visitors using the facilities of the Conference Center on the 25th floor can get immersed into Barcelona´s most important attractions from the window´s view.

Through an atypical oval space, our proposal offers a wide variety of narratives and experiences, inviting users to a journey full of the senses designed to be contemplated or experienced intensely.

LOOM´s roots as part of the old Royal Factory of Looms have been taken into account when outlining the new offices as a place promoting community success. Working alongside the client, we identified the key drivers of the project and designed a space combining two key concepts: the “Barcelona” experience for the Conference Center floor and the “LOOM” experience for the coworking floors.

The Conference Center is a flexible space hosting from private meetings to events for up to 100 attendees. Both permanent staff or occasional visitors can freely move around the floor and experience the city through the privileged views.

Following the unusual 360º circular façade’s shape allowing each point of Barcelona to be captured through any window, we developed a “thematic” design paying tribute to the city through custom-made graphic elements linking and framing the legacy and history of the neighborhoods that users are looking at while they work. 

Each floor offers atypical spaces transforming the daily routine, recalling the importance of a break and encouraging workers to live different experiences carefully integrated through the best technological and well-being conditions.

From climbing walls or stargazing to immersive journeys into the lives of extraordinary people represented through books and quotes on the wall, users can find at each stop a personalized  “look & feel” full of sensations encouraging unusual actions.

LOOM Torre Glòries stands as an icon of the city of Barcelona, a highly flexible flagship space prepared to evolve at the pace of the needs of its present and future users. This innovative space manages to strengthen and extend community ties and convert the initial building limitations into true design opportunities for the activation and stimulation of digital nomads.

The intelligent and balanced proposal developed by Studio Banana offers a novel, original and functional user experience beyond work activity; successfully linking the city, its inhabitants, its occasional visitors and the infinity of experiences that can occur in it.