Martina Eliasson works with spatial design in close relationships with clients and end-users. She is strongly driven by brand-building architecture, interior architecture, storytelling and design at a strategic level.
Over the years, she has developed a broad experience regarding the design of future workplaces. Furthermore, sustainability issues and re-use are an important driving force in all her projects.
Martina graduated from the Chalmers School of Architecture in Gothenburg in 2013 and has been at White Arkitekter since 2014.
White Arkitekter is one of Scandinavia’s leading architectural practices and was founded in 1951, in Gothenburg by Sidney White with the aim to improve society through architecture. It is an employee-owned company in which involvement and participation are valued. Employees are seen as their most valuable asset, there isn’t one star at White; there are nearly eight hundred.
Projects evolve in collaboration with their clients, users, partners, colleagues and other stakeholders. By being good listeners, understanding different points of view and being devoted to collaboration, White believes lasting value is created. They refer to themselves as radical contextualists based on the belief that architecture is shaped by the unique qualities of its context.
For White Arkitekter sustainability issues and re-use are an important driving force. They work with sustainable architecture, design and urban development in an international context designing healthy living environments that inspire and engage.
Avinode is an international tech company that has offices all around the globe. In 2019 White Arkitekter was commissioned by Avinode to design their new headquarters in Gothenburg.
In a world where it’s the employee’s market, the challenge for White was to find a way to seduce the smartest brains in the market to come work with Avinode. Therefore, to offer an attractive workplace with a strong identity is key.
The brief was to create an environment with a local Swedish touch, a wow-feeling, good individual working conditions but also fitting the identity of the company.
Tech companies as Avinode work around the clock, have a strong sense of community, are driven by curiosity and operate at the forefront with new technology and new thoughts.
Everything in the interior should create the conditions for one, or more of these core values. The atmosphere should spark the employees’ curiosity, offer the opportunity to shift from work (as in numbers, date and products) to life (as in nature, leisure, health and sustainability). A good a balance between life and work and a sense of community is a core requirement.
The new offices of Avinode are situated on to three top floors of a high-rise building. On the 16th floor neutral looking business-like office spaces can be found. The 17th and 18th floor have leisure areas with a colorful Marmoleum aqua jet design as central piece.
The inspiration for this Marmoleum flooring pattern came from nature but instead of taking obvious elements from nature White Arkitekter chose a more unexpected and daring approach. With the rainbow as central theme and making an interpretation of its movement, colors and shape, a unique floor design was created.
The vast variety of colors offered by our Marmoleum collection, together with its sustainable properties was the perfect fit for the realization of the rainbow concept.
In this beautifully designed colorful atmosphere employees can connect, relax, play and get inspired. The top floor has become a space where work and life merges, offering the perfect backdrop to experience a community feel as mental fuel for true innovation.
‘Over the rainbow, that’s where the magic happens’
The team at White Arkitekter that worked with the Avinode project alongside with Martina Eliasson was Inga Karin Sundqvist, Annie Leonsson, Emma Deines and August Olsson.
Martina Eliasson
Gal Keshet | directing, filming and editing
Gena Haensel | transcription
Simone de Vries | consultancy
Bodil Bergqvist | photo interior Avinode office