True togetherness

Tétris Design and Build has completed the redesign and refurbishment of the Sandton, Johannesburg, offices for Heineken Beverages. The existing space was refurbished following the 2023 merger of Heineken South Africa, Distell and Namibia Breweries Limited to form Heineken Beverages.

“The refurbishment of the office was symbolic of a new era for Heineken Beverages and, as such, needed to reflect the new company’s multi-category portfolio and bring to life all our brands,” says Millicent Maroga, corporate affairs director for Heineken South Africa.

“The workspace environment is designed to create many ways of connecting with colleagues, connecting with the core brands and consumers of the Heineken Beverages business, while infusing the important values and commitment to sustainable best practice that is a driver in the company,” says Kasha Ströh, Head of Conceptual Design at Tétris.

Several of the company’s strategic initiatives influenced the ethos of the new office design, such as Heineken’s global ‘Brew a Better World’ initiative, which focuses on local sourcing and sustainable development. Sourcing local and sustainable materials were central to the integrity of the project.

Importantly, Tétris’s design also involved enabling new ways of working through a flexible, connected work environment that fosters a culture of collaboration, one of the company’s central values. A sense of community, creativity and fun anchor the organisational culture at Heineken Beverages.

The ground floor and reception area is a celebration of what is at the core of the business: connecting people and communities. Visitors are welcomed in a light-filled double-volume lobby with glass curtain walls where the reception counter provides a clear welcoming and orientation point. An industrial-inspired steel structure supports a Heineken Beverages logo made with recycled green glass, setting the tone for so much of what is to come throughout the rest of the building.

Here, the signage and branding are light and transparent enough to allow views all the way through the building. Directly behind the reception is an open-air beer garden in the central atrium at the core of the building, a styled informal workspace with strings of fairy lights and large planter boxes.

Several other key features in the reception area provide touchpoints that embody the ethos of the company, and reappear in various aspects of the interior design. In the lobby, Heineken’s distinctive green glass is reprised in the wallpaper, made with recycled crushed glass, upon which a striking mural representing an icon of the African continent is mounted. Specially designed linework graphics representing the company’s brands and values, and appearing as a leitmotif throughout the office on wallpapers and desk dividers, have been hand-embroidered on cushions in the waiting area – created in collaboration with a community initiative. Such details express the heritage, values and identity of Heineken globally through local aesthetics and design culture, thus representing the brand’s place within a contemporary African context.

Also on the ground floor, flowing off from this informal gathering space, formal meeting spaces and boardrooms have been designed using the company’s beverage brands as visual collateral.

Ströh explains that each brand’s team had a key creative role in designing their feature meeting rooms. “In this way, the teams who use the space are proudly connected to how the business lines they champion are represented in the space,” she says.

An informal boardroom breakout lounge alongside these spaces ensures consistency of colour palettes and materials, integrating the various brands within a cohesive environment. The full spectrum of Heineken Beverages’ products is on display in dedicated cabinets in this space.

The boardrooms wrap around the central atrium, leading back around to a large, multifunctional dining and social area, anchored by the bar, and including a busy canteen and café with a bespoke barista station. “The furniture here is mobile to allow the flexibility of accommodating large townhalls and company celebrations while also, in its day-to-day configuration, providing many different ways of connecting with colleagues, suppliers and partners,” says Ströh.

The green marble-topped bar – in the shape of the leaf logo representing Heineken’s global EverGreen strategy, another motif that makes several subtle appearances through the building – holds pride of place here. Its opulent materials and design details, including coffered ceiling and light fittings inspired by beer bubbles, exude an air of luxury and establish the premium status of the brands within the Heineken stable.

In the two floors above, the workspaces have been configured for flexibility and versatility, establishing the conditions in which a dynamic, collaborative work environment can thrive. “We have multiple spaces and multiple usage of spaces in the office,” says Maroga.

The variety encourages movement, interaction, and the exchange of perspectives and ideas. In addition to workstations, the open-plan office space offers booths, tables, lounge areas and huddle rooms to support fast and seamless transitions between activities and work modes, supporting group activities, focused work, remote communications, and any other function the modern workplace might demand.

“Connection to the space below is carried through in similarly styled breakaway kitchens and cafés on each floor, with the feature bubble lighting and curved ceiling details being repeated in the workspaces,” says Ströh.

The furnishings offer simplicity, comfort and sophistication. Focused meeting spaces and boardrooms are styled to create connection to the consumers of specific brands. They range from a tavern with rusted corrugated iron sheeting and the cage-style serving counter, to the Nederburg room with soft plum colours, the brand's signature monogram in wallpaper detail and warm glass pendant lights.

Natural light and views out over the treetops to the Sandton CBD beyond create a sense of wellbeing and connection to the city, imparting a sense of place. Plants bring greenery into the interior environment, along with all their biophilic benefits.

The way in which all these office spaces are wrapped around the central atrium opens lines of sight and connection not only across the atrium, but even between floors. This arrangement constantly connects with the central communal areas on the ground floor, infusing the whole workplace with a vibrant, interactive character.

“The Heineken Beverages office in Sandton stands as a benchmark of excellence within the Heineken group globally,” says Maroga. Since its completion, she notes, there has been an interest from other Heineken Opco’s on the design of our office. “Our office is indeed a space that fosters inclusion, allows for a diversity of different work needs, and brings the joy of true togetherness,” she says.

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