Staff don't have designated desks inside the offices of luxury department store Selfridges, which Alex Cochrane Architects has completed with open-plan workrooms and communal seating.
The office accommodates Selfridges' executive, buying and merchandising teams and has been designed by Alex Cochrane Architects so that staff are "discouraged from owning any given space".

Once dominated by closed-off cubicles, the office's new, open layout is meant to encourage better communication and collaborative work amongst employees.
"Prior to the redesign, the offices were a very much no-frills, function-led space," Selfridges' buying and merchandising director, Sebastian Manes, told Dezeen.

"Although the space had seen several cosmetic updates over time, it was in need of a full strategic, structural and aesthetic rethink. The needs and behaviours of the buying and merchandising teams had changed and the space was no longer adequate," Manes added. "The new offices are fully responding to the very nature of the life of a buyer who is by definition always on the move, travelling around the world more than half of the year, looking for exciting new products."

The office's main room has been transformed into a single open-plan space. A series of long timber desks run down its centre, where employees can work individually or huddle as groups.

Each of the desks has been loosely delineated to particular departments of the buying and merchandise tea...