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‘Work life balance’ is a tired, problematic concept. What seems to have become the ideal these days is work and life, work as a lifestyle, and inevitably too—designing home and office as one interchangeable, relaxed and comfortable (hopefully beautiful) entity. Madrid ad agency, Mr. Hyde enlisted Spanish interiors studio Casa Josephine to push the whole lifestyle office aesthetic a notch or two further.

On the corner of a historic 20th century building, Mr. Hyde’s HQ had many former lives. From bar to motorcycle workshop, when founder of Casa Josephine Íñigo Aragón and his brother Rodrigo Aragón begun work on a new office space, little remained of its original appearance. To revive it, Íñigo and Rodrigo rescued the building’s original plans, which revealed wider windows, and now-missing walls.

Within the floor plan, Casa Josephine have created the bones of an office—but layered it with the furnishings and filters of a well-appointed home. The meeting room is flooded with soft, natural light, there’s a suite featuring an enormous maple table design by Espacio Brut, and a room for pitches and presentations.

Colours are inspired by an 80s inclination for Mondrian’s geometric yellow, blue and red. Mustard drapery softens the space, and unstiffens the office atmosphere without being brassy like a patch of astro turf or a foosball table.

Other domestic touches are peppered throughout: midcentury ceramics, plush benches, and easy lighting. The floor mosaic is playful with a touch of surrealism too. The floor pattern unites and separates various rooms, while tiled walls have been fashioned as shadowed archways—a sort of charming tromp-l’oeil.

Words by Sammy Preston.

[Images courtesy of AD Spain.]

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