Award-winning office achieves day-to-night character transformation entirely through strategic lighting design.
A financial institution's headquarters that hosts serious client meetings at noon and team celebrations at seven in the evening might sound like two separate facilities. Yet designers Teodora Panayotova and Max Baklayan achieved precisely this duality within a single 490 square meter space in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde office created for Tavex, a gold and silver bullion trader operating across ten European countries, operates under a deceptively simple principle: Work and Play, but never mix the two. The design team invested transformation energy entirely in lighting infrastructure, including custom rail lights, neon installations, and LED arrays that allow the space to shift from polished corporate environment to intimate gathering venue through switch adjustments alone. The strategic insight extends far beyond aesthetics into smart real estate thinking.
Organizations with distributed teams face a particular challenge: creating headquarters that inspire pride across multiple locations while serving practical daily functions. Tavex employees spread across Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Bucharest, Belgrade, and Athens needed a regional center worthy of collective identification. The material palette addresses both identities simultaneously. Polished concrete and black marble convey the stability essential to precious metals trading, while Persian rugs and warm OSB panels introduce human warmth that transforms under evening illumination. Glass walls throughout maintain visual connectivity and flatten hierarchical signals. The project earned a Golden A' Design Award in Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design, recognizing the sophisticated resolution of competing spatial demands. For brands evaluating workspace investments, the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde office demonstrates that lighting systems can deliver spatial transformation with remarkable elegance and efficiency.
The dual-purpose approach pioneered in the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde project suggests a compelling direction for brands seeking maximum value from physical spaces. Transformation happens through technology and intention, enabling single spaces to serve multiple purposes. What might your organization accomplish if the same space could serve focused productivity by day and meaningful community building by evening?
