Jeyan Ülkü Architects’ Informa offices in Istanbul seamlessly blend global workplace standards with local identity, fostering well-being through flexible, site-specific design that enhances collaboration and embraces the city’s rich history.

The İstanbul Informa Offices articulate the company’s “Sense of Belonging” ethos through an architectural language that fuses global workplace standards with spatial references rooted in the city’s geography and history. Responding to a client brief that called for a workplace capable of accommodating multiple modes of work, fostering wellbeing, and embedding local identity within a recognisable global framework, the design develops an interior environment that is both site-specific and aligned with an international corporate identity.

These priorities are addressed not through a fixed template, but through contextual interpretation. Flexibility is embedded in the organisational structure of the plan: modular Basecamp zones allow rapid reconfiguration, enclosed Flexi-rooms provide controlled environments for concentrated tasks or confidential exchange, and high tables facilitate short-duration, casual use. The integration of power into all working surfaces ensures that spatial choice is not constrained by infrastructure, allowing users to move fluidly between different modes of work.

Wellbeing is addressed through a spatial and material strategy that maximises natural light penetration and extends views across the floorplate. Greenery is deployed not as a decorative afterthought but as an element with acoustic and spatial definition functions, breaking down the open office into legible, human-scaled zones. Consistent use of white horizontal planes enhances light reflectance, while vertical timber elements introduce a tactile counterpoint that modulates the visual field.

The reception sequence establishes the project’s approach to local interpretation. Timber arches in soft curvature frame a reception desk set against a deep blue backdrop, a chromatic reference to the Bosphorus, while subtle geometric cues recall the vaulting of the Basilica Cistern. Material tactility and integrated planting shift the threshold condition from formal to hospitable. From this point, the circulation is organised as a series of interconnected zones that alternate between openness and enclosure, echoing the fluidity of urban movement.

Social and collaborative functions are concentrated in a centrally located meeting island that integrates the Tech Bar with adjacent focus rooms, creating a multifunctional hub within the workspace. Positioned at the intersection of primary circulation routes, it acts as a spatial anchor, supporting both informal interaction and task-specific use, and reinforcing the balance between openness and enclosure that runs throughout the plan.

In this configuration, the İstanbul Informa Offices function as both a local iteration of a global typology and a spatial response to their immediate cultural and physical environment. The outcome is a workplace that maintains the clarity of a standardised design language while accommodating the nuances of place, producing an environment capable of supporting multiple working modalities, sustaining wellbeing and embodying the identity of both the organisation and the city in which it operates.