This Flexible Office Offers Plenty of Space for Ideas to Bloom at French Startup, BlaBlaCar

The French tech startup BlaBlaCar connects riders and drivers looking to carpool together. When the firm reached out to Studio Vincent Eschalier to conceive a new headquarters, similar forward-thinking flexibility was at the forefront of their minds. An idea bloomed for a 54,000-square-foot office that beckons some 600 employees to work in it, and supports them as they telecommute.

Two infrastructure levels incorporate fitness, yoga, and radio studios, along with meeting rooms and an auditorium with an exposed-concrete ceiling incorporating square cells to improve acoustics. Five stories of offices and common areas are defined by materials, from solid pine on the first floor to iterations including blue earthenware, brass, walnut, and the top floor’s marble and light oak. “Each color present in these common areas,” says founder Vincent Eschalier, “is found in the toilets on the same floor with the use of terrazzo whose colored fragments echo the break areas.”

The building’s distinctive façade is the real draw, however. “The alcoves are inspired by tulips,” he says. “We tried to reproduce globes in which the occupants could come to nest or isolate themselves. They project the building toward the street and give a glimpse of living within the building.” It’s an enticing offer for those who make the trip into the office.