extension of the podium with the Old Mutual
Reception moving up to the First floor. The Ground
floor façade steps in, creating polite thresholds and
opportunities for cover close to the building whilst
expressing the structure and building materials.
There are a multitude of functions on the
Ground floor, including pockets of retail to activate
the podium in the future, a 200-seat auditorium,
a coffee shop, the staff restaurant and a client
experience center, not to mention the main arrival
spaces for the Old Mutual staff and visitors.
The main atrium space is divided by the central
lift core, with the West Atrium focused on the
arrival spaces.
The East Atrium is more focused on the Old
Mutual staff members with the staff restaurant
spilling out into the space under the overlapping
pause areas. The pause areas have been conceived
as alternate working areas on every floor. They
are all different, with the focus being on line of
site between spaces and interaction with the
No. 1 Mutual Place
main staircase, observation lifts and circulation
routes. This is all to aid communication between
the departments, improving the opportunity for
conversations and collaboration between the Old
Mutual business units.
Multi Tenant Design
The office space is easily divisible into three
manageable sub tenant spaces if required and
there is access flooring throughout the building.
The façades have been kept clear of clutter, with
service spaces and fire escape stairs clustered
in the center of the office wings to maximise the
views and ingress of light. The Class A acoustic
ceiling tile has been raised to a generous 2,700mm
above the finished floor level to maintain the
feeling of space and light in the almost fully open
plan office space. The building also makes use
of the latest technology to control the comfort of
the end user through an automatic performance
blind system that reacts to the external conditions
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