the BIG kitchen THE

CONCEPT DESCRIPTION

team mebersRadostin Dimitrov, Rasmus Westfall ReicheMarek Zugaj, Nadezhda ZhelyazkovaMartin Marinov, Yann C. R SegouinStig Mørk Lemvig

e-concept developmentteam 4 semester 2 project 3 GROUP 3

DATE:22.05.12

MAREK ZUGAJ

52 73 11 94marek011011@gmail.com

51 92 05 03RasmusWR@gmail.com

31 21 09 29 stigmrk@hotmail.com

60 32 65 81marinovm@ymail.com

60 24 79 94nadin.vasilev@gmail.

com

25 53 56 67simonisme.blanc@

gmail.com

28 72 50 60radostin.p.dimitrov@

gmail.com

RASMUS WESTFALL RE-ICHE

MARTIN MARINOV

NADEZHDA ZHELYAZKOVA

RADOSTIN DIMITROV

YANN C.R SEGOUIN

STIG MØRK LEMVIG

3

Contents

The BIG goal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The BIG problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The BIG insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The BIG constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

How do companies communicate internally?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The BIG employees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

The BIG solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The social aspects of eating together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The materials for one office. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The setup:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

The technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

BIG persona. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

BIG user scenario. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

BIG budget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Future opportunities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

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The BIG goalAccording to the client brief held Monday 21st of May on Bispevej 5, BIG seeks to strengthen the social interaction, the creative dialogue and create a sense of community between the headquarters in Copenhagen and the office in New York - as well as any potential sub-offices in the future.

The BIG problemBjarke Ingels Group (BIG), is a Danish award-winning1 architectural bureau founded in 2006 by Bjarke Ingels. Their headquarter is located in Copenhagen, Denmark, and in 2011 they opened a branch in New York in the United States. BIG also have sub-offices in Kazakh-stan, Switzerland and the Faroe Islands. BIG are famous for their innovative solutions and their willingness to re-think and integrate architec-ture and design in everyday life, and they have done major groundbreaking projects all over the world.

Since BIG is an expanding international com-pany with offices in different parts of the world. They find it hard to communicate directly in a satisfactory manner, both for the creative pro-cess and for the social interaction between the offices. They do not have a company intranet but are using Facebook, and for real-time face-to-face communication, they are using Skype. The Facebook page is for social purposes only.

BIG is looking for a solution that either further-develop these current platforms or implement other platforms that will improve the social and creative communication between the offices.

The BIG insightsIn order to come up with a solution that match the client goal, we want to investigate the fol-lowing areas:

• How do companies communicate inter-nally?

• Who are the BIG employees in Copenha-gen?

1 http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.

php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=12120, found

21/5/2012.

The BIG constraints• The solution must be secure in order to

exchange confidential material and con-versations

• Budget is 500.000 DDK

How do companies communicate internally?Leading a big corporation or average local busi-ness requires certain knowledge and tools to communicate to the employees of the compa-ny. There are 4 main ways in which companies communicate internally.2

• Telephone (Cell phones, landlines or office based phone systems) usually used when verbal instructions or notifications are required.

• Viral and other computer communication tools (emails, social networking sites, free and fee-based software via Internet allows visual conference calls and video conver-sations with high quality)

• Written communication (newsletters, memos etc.) The old way of communica-tion is still in use by many companies. Nowadays mostly typed and printed from computer and directed to particular per-son or sent by post.

• Face-to-Face communication is consid-ered to be the most effective and personal method of any, as it uses verbal and non-verbal communication techniques

BIG is currently using Skype for face-to-face communication and Facebook for social purposes. Documents are exchanged as PDFs by email and through their own FTP server(Appendix A).

We want to enhance the face-to-face platform since it is a powerful tool to communicate ideas. Furthermore, we would like to implement the social aspects to this platform.

2 http://www.ehow.com/info_8076563_business-communication-

tools.html, found 21/5/2 12

5

The BIG employeesSince the BIG employees are the major stake-holders in the solution, it is necessary to take a look at who they are, how they work and what their communication needs are.

The BIG office in Copenhagen is located on Nørrebrogade 66D. The office takes all second floor of the building and it is a big, wide, open and light hall with some small glass rooms be-sides. The staff are mainly young people - men and women, and they are from many differ-ent countries, however about 20 percent of them are Danish. The company is international and therefore the main language is English. The people working in the office are mainly# engineers and architects. They are very mod-ern, dynamic and social. They are youngsters who adapt very fast to new technologies and work with flexible working hours because the company values flexibility and flatness. Many of them even spend their spare time together. Some of them are interns and visitors from other countries without any social network in the city, so the social aspect is important3.

Some of the free time activities which the com-pany provides for them is a Friday bar, table tennis at work and a running club for those who like to run. According to Daria Pahhota, head of press and communication, the people working in BIG’s office in New York are very much the same as the people in Copenhagen. Additionally the office in New York looks almost identical to the one in Copenhagen.

We base our solution on observations in the Copenhagen office. So if the people in the New York office are so similar to the people in Co-penhagen, then we must assume that the New Yorkers would use the solution.

3 see the Appendix

The BIG solutionWe have created a solution that will bring the employees in Copenhagen and New York virtually together for a social purpose. The BIG kitchen.

The idea is to create an illusion of having din-ner together and working together in the same room despite being approximately 6250 kilo-metres apart.

In the BIG kitchen in Copenhagen, a dinning ta-ble is pushed against the wall where a high-res-olution projector is projecting an image of the exact same table in New York. And vice versa.

This way, two or more persons can eat and talk together in a casual situation. The only limit for how many people that can participate, is the size of the room and the length of the table. Small well-placed microphones will ensure au-thentic acoustics and also enable several head-to-head conversations at the time.

Furthermore in the end of the table, next to the wall a Microsoft Surface 2.0 touch screen# is located, this enables sharing of documents be-tween the two tables, through a secure server connection. In this way, we are also bringing the collective creative aspects into the solution. The Microsoft Surface 2.0. is the result of a joint venture between Microsoft and Samsung. It is using an NEC camera, which Microsoft calls “PixelSense”. As a result the Surface has been slimmed down to a mere 4-inches thick. Inside the Surface is a dual-core AMD Athlon II X2 and Radeon HD 6700M graphics cards supported by Windows 7 GPU acceleration. It can handle up to 50 simultaneous touch points, capture text (OCR) and work with a tagging system that can be adhered to the bottom of a can of soda

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or beer to enable apps to automatically launch when placed on the Surface4.The technology behind the solution

In this section we will sketch out the materi-als used in the solution. Furthermore we will shortly describe the technology used to realise the solution.

The social aspects of eating togetherEating together is not only a matter of having company while satisfying the basic need for food. Eating together is also being social and enjoying a meal with one another. In this article from Kristligt Dagblad5, professor in food soci-ology Lotte Holm, state:

”Måltidet binder folk sammen. Måltidet er med til at skabe et fællesskab. Man kan have et fællesskab om et måltid, selvom man ikke har andet tilfælles,” siger hun og fortsætter:

”Vi bruger det i alle vores sociale sammen-hænge. Vi spiser for eksempel i den samme klike i skolen og på arbejdet.”

“The meal binds people together. The meal is to create a community. One can have a com-munity for a meal, even if you have nothing in common, she says and continues:

“We use it in all our social contexts. We eat, for example, in the same clique at school and at work.”

Eating and sharing a meal with others make us feel like sharing something more than just a meal. It make us feel like a part of a community:

“Mad og at spise sammen får [derfor] allerede meget tidligt en vigtig funktion i vores oplev-else af at høre til i en relation og et fællesskab.6”

“Food and eating together are [therefore] already very early an important function in our sense of belonging in a relationship and a com-munity.”

4 http://www.gadgetreview.com/2011/01/microsoft-surface-2-slim-

trim-half-the-price-of-the-original-video.html, found 21/5/2012.

5 http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/455857:Liv---Sjael--Dan-

skerne-vil-helst-spise-sammen, found on the Internet 21/5/2012.

6 http://www.sst.dk/~/media/Sundhed%20og%20forebyggelse/

Overvaegt/Uddannelseafvaegtstopraadgiver/Materialer/Artikler/

Madens%20betydning%20i%20menneskers%20personlige%20og%20

sociale%20liv.ashx, found 21/5/2012.

The materials for one office1 Camera7

3 Microphones8

2 Speakers9

1 Projector10

1 Microsoft surface table11

1 Sensor12

The setup:

The technologyAll of the elements will be connected to a com-puter that is talking to a server. This is a shared server between New York and Copenhagen. The server will have the necessary security sys-tem installed.

The computer will be the Microsoft Surface, which runs Windows 713. With a Microsoft Sur-face computer, the Copenhagen- and New York office can exchange files in an easy and simple way though a server connection.

In order for the projectors not to overheat, there will be sensors placed that automatically will put the system to sleep if there´s no one in the room for more than 5 minutes.

7 http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/455857:Liv---Sjael--Dan-

skerne-vil-helst-spise-sammen, found 21/5/2012.

8 http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Condenser-Micro-

phone-Multipattern/dp/B004L9KLT6, found 21/5/2012

9 http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Condenser-Micro-

phone-Multipattern/dp/B004L9KLT6, found 21/5/2012

10 http://www.projectorcentral.com/hitachi_bz1_interactive_projec-

tor_review.htm, found 21/5/2012

11 http://www.gadgetreview.com/2011/01/microsoft-surface-2-slim-

trim-half-the-price-of-the-original-video.html, found 21/5/2012

12 http://www.homesecuritystore.com/c-151-ceiling-mount.aspx,

found on the Internet 21/5/2012

13 http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/SoftwarePlatform.aspx,

found 21/5/2012

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In order for the camera to show an aligned im-age, it has to be placed in the centre, in front of the table on the wall. This will create the illusion that the desk continues into the other room.

BIG personaHanna Johansson is 30 years old, Swedish and working as a full time Architect at BIG in Copen-hagen. She is passionate about modern architec-ture and constructions. Hanna is always updated

with all the new techniques and building mod-els within her field.

She is in a relationship, but has no children with her American boyfriend. She rents a cosy apart-ment in Frederiksberg.

Hanna is outgoing, she likes participating in cocktails parties or other events where she can communicate with others. She is always friend-ly and ready to help her colleagues and friends. She is a hardworking and energetic employee of BIG

Hanna is in a constant overview in the world of architecture. She is following many architecture related website and magazines. Her favourite online magazine is http://www.architectmaga-zine.com/. Her job requires travelling back and forward from Copenhagen to New York or to client locations all over the world and she loves that. Since she was a kid Hanna dreamed to have a job that requires persistent travelling.

BIG user scenarioIt is almost 7 o`clock in the morning, Hanna and her boyfriend are out for their morning train-ing, namely running around the lakes next to their apartment in Frederiksberg. Hanna is hav-ing her usual morning, including the healthy breakfast she and her boyfriend Mark are hav-ing every morning.

She is biking to work as every other workday and on the way Hanna is thinking about how little she knows of the colleagues from the office in New York, even though they work for

the same company. When entering the office at Nørrebrogade 66D in central Copenhagen, Hanna`s attention is gained by newly installed equipment in the kitchen at the office. An ad-ditional extension to their kitchen table, shows through a special projector that is installed up in the ceiling to show real time video and sound from the New York kitchen. The manager of the office in Copenhagen announced that both offices will hold a lunch/ breakfast at 13:30 local time, 7:30 AM in New York and try the new way of socializing.

Hanna is so impressed by the given chance to interact with her colleagues over the ocean, so excited she calls her boyfriend to share with him how amazing the new equipment in the of-fice is. Later during the day she is stuck with her daily task, therefore she walks to the kitchen for a glass of water, apparently on the other side she sees Marie, a person she communicated through a common project some time ago. In the end she feels much more involved into the company and the social interaction between the office in New York and Copenhagen.

BIG budgetWe have made a budget for the equipment for both offices. The installation cost is calculated by using the Danish standard, the price for installation in the New York office may vary ac-cording to the standard of life.

Future opportunitiesIn a not so distant future the OLED14 (organic light emitting diode) from Samsung would suit the solution perfect. Unlike LCD screens, they need no side lighting - so the picture display area can go right up to the screen edge. That means they can be placed next to each other to create a continuous display. It will be possible to build a entire screen wall to fully give the il-lusion of sharing the same table.

14 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428655.300-interac-

tive-wallpaper-screens-are-the-future-of-tv.html, found 21/5/2012

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ConclusionThe way BIG communicates now is very tradi-tional, using phones, mail and server. The only way they communicate socially is though Sky-pe. This is not the optimal solution for socialis-ing within BIG. The company holds innovative ideas, so the internal communication should reflect that.

With our solution we have sought to bring the social and creative aspects into one platform. By combining the intimacy related to share a meal together with the opportunity to easily exchange and discuss documents face-to-face, we believe that we are offering BIG a unique internal communication solution.

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Appendix Q&A session 21.05.2012

At “BIG” Copenhagen

Address: Nørrebrogade 66D,

With:

Daria Pahhota - Press & Communication

Jakob Lange – Partner

Two other employs from “BIG”- communication and Office Assistant.

Q: Who are people working here in the office? Could you describe them?

- People here are from very different fields. On daily bases are architects, engineers and people from the administration. In general on both places (Copenhagen and New York) are identical and people working there are people who adapt quite easy to new technologies. Average age is quite young.

Q: How start the typical day in the company?

- People are coming at 9 or 10 grab coffee and go to their teams because we have a lot of deadlines and the day is long. People work in teams 4 or 5 people in team.

Q: Do you encourage the people to connect with each others?

- Yes, we do that but mostly happen by word of mouth. When we have new employ we set up new email for them and we update the people so everybody knows them. We don’t show strong hierarchy and let the people feel friendly environment.

Q: What did you try already in order to collabo-rate with New York?

-Anything really, only the window beside the kitchen and october mount we organize study trip.

Q: Do you have any developer or program-mers?

- We have only two IT guys working for us but in case we need we can find external.

Q: When you have a client out from Copenha-gen how you communicate with them?

- We have two other rooms where we can use not the traditional skype system but more stable then skype system for conference talk.

Q: What are your internal values?

- Flexibility I guess and also flatness.

Q: They are many models and pictures every-where but why you don’t have white boards.

- We have one actually over here but we don’t have more because someone decide that they are not aesthetic and doesn’t suits to our office. The teams work with models and pictures hang on the wall. But of course the project has to be improved. When we are working the idea is much more important than anything. It is not that important to show visual project, the core here is the idea.

Q: Do you use hierarchy in the organization?

- We don’t really. We try to be as flat is pos-sible. But sometimes there is more hierarchy in the building process in order to progress we have project leaders, managers and so on.

Q: We see the solution in two different aspects, which you are more interested –Business as-pect or the social aspect?

- We don’t have problem with the business aspect. The company is working very fine. We are more interested in social solution. We want the people to get to know each other. We want for example when New York comes up with a good idea the office in Copenhagen to feel it. We need some simple solution which will not change our daily work. Some easy solutions like we normally do. We want to avoid headphones the solution should be like normal talking.

Q: Do you use pc or Mac?

- We have only Pc in “Big” We don’t have any Macs, many programs which we use don’t run on Mac. And we use Microsoft.

Q: Have you made survey if the employers like the window?

- We know that they like it. People like to say cheers to the other office when are cel-ebrating. We also used the window when the Danish royal family visited once the NY office and then we was watching like on TV what is going on there.