Fraunhofer Offices
Oporto, Portugal
Client
Fraunhofer Portugal
Status
Built
Project date
2011
Construction date
2011
Construction area
1.660 m2
Photography
Awards
Winner of the 2016 Green GOOD DESIGN Award
–
Winner of the Archdaily Building of the Year 2011 Awards (Interiors category)
1st Place in closed competition
Graphic Design
Rita & Joana Coimbra
Located in Oporto, the Fraunhofer offices occupy part of a building in the Science and Technology Park at the Oporto University (UPTEC). The space allotted to these offices consists of 1.660m2, divided along two floors.
The Fraunhofer Portugal association is part of the German company Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest applied research institution. Although it is relatively little known to the public, Fraunhofer is responsible for such innovations as the MP3 audio format, and for significant advances in the field of workspace organization.
The project is based on the company’s philosophy of innovation, as well as its ample investigation into the matter of workspaces, through a simple, affirmative and dynamic message, and was selected through a private competition held by the institution itself.
The main circulation is a structural element of the project, and is laid out along the large glazed façade.
It is from this longitudinal circulation that the various office spaces are accessed. These spaces, which differ in size and function, are defined by a single strong gesture that determines the functioning and image of the whole – a plane that rises, falls and undulates through the space, generating the different rooms and paths.
This freestanding plane reinforces the different volumes and materializes itself as a ceiling, wall or pavement for the different offices and meeting rooms, granting them a certain spatial dynamic, visual continuity, movement and flow.
Throughout the office, small independent rooms called silent rooms are introduced, serving as places of concentration, informal meeting rooms or simply for resting. These seek to promote the researchers’ creativity and well-being.
The colours used throughout the different spaces, together with the graphic design, give the offices a relaxed and youthful environment, according to the company’s ideology.
Designing workplaces for research and technology organizations requires a distinct approach - one that supports both focused individual work and spontaneous collaboration between teams working at the frontiers of applied science.
The Fraunhofer Portugal offices in Porto demanded an environment that could accommodate the full spectrum of research activity: from quiet, concentrated workstations for software development to open collaborative zones for cross-disciplinary meetings. The 1,300 square metre space bridges the transition between laboratory conditions and conventional office functions, with careful acoustic separation and material strategies that reinforce the institution's identity as a centre for applied innovation. The design reflects Fraunhofer's international standards while adapting to the specific context of their Porto operations.
See more of our workplace design projects, from tech companies to corporate headquarters.
Project Context
Fraunhofer is Europe's largest applied research organization, operating over 70 institutes across Germany and internationally. Its Portuguese operations - Fraunhofer Portugal - are headquartered in Porto but maintain significant workplace needs in Lisbon, where the proximity to tech companies and international partners drives demand for professionally designed, functional workspaces.
Research and technology workplace design occupies a distinct niche: these organizations need spaces that signal intellectual rigour and credibility to visiting academics and corporate partners, while supporting the focused, often individual work modes that applied research demands. The existing office shell provided the structural envelope; Pedra Silva's brief was to create an interior that serves these distinct programming requirements.
The project places Pedra Silva within an important category of Lisbon workplace commissions - technology and research sector offices - alongside the Biogen II project and the OLX Group and Track and Field workplace projects. It demonstrates the studio's breadth across multiple knowledge-economy office typologies.
Design Approach
The design employs a clean, rational spatial vocabulary appropriate to a research institution. From the photography, the material palette reads as a combination of light wood tones, white or near-white walls and controlled accent colours - a combination that reads as modern and organized without the decorative language of a consumer-facing brand office.
The spatial strategy divides the floorplate between a transparent, collaborative front zone - visible to arriving guests and used for meetings and informal exchange - and a more enclosed focused-work core. This is a spatial pattern well-suited to applied research organizations, where the balance between visibility (for credibility) and privacy (for concentration) is a recurring design challenge.
Custom joinery elements provide storage, visual rhythm and zoning cues throughout the space, avoiding the need for full-height partitions. This keeps the floor plan legible and adaptable - important for a research organization where team sizes and project compositions shift regularly.
Why This Project Matters
The Fraunhofer Offices demonstrate Pedra Silva's ability to design for research-institute and technology-sector clients in Lisbon. For international research organizations, tech companies and knowledge-economy firms considering workspace fit-outs in Portugal, this project is a reference for what a specialist architecture studio can deliver in the research and technology workplace category - with full local project management and fit-out coordination.
Project FAQ
Who designed the Fraunhofer Portugal offices?
Pedra Silva Architects designed the Fraunhofer Portugal office workspace in Lisbon. The project is a research-institute workplace fit-out by a studio with specialist experience in technology and knowledge-economy offices.
What type of project is the Fraunhofer office?
It is a workplace design and interior architecture project for Europe's largest applied research organization, designed for their Portuguese operations in Lisbon.
What makes a good office design for a research institute?
Research institution offices require a balance between credibility-signalling public zones (for visiting partners and academics) and privacy-respecting focused work areas. Adaptability matters, as team compositions change frequently.
RELATED PROJECTS
Biogen II Offices
Pedra Silva Arquitects developed Biogen’s Lisbon offices in 2016 and in 2020 were requested to redesign the space again to accommodate the increase in staff and need for meeting spaces.
View project: Biogen II Offices
Olx Group Offices
Located in one of the most important business districts of Lisbon, the project space is prepared to accommodate 300 people and its design reflects OLX culture mixed with the inspiring mood and beauty of the city of Lisbon.
View project: OLX Group Offices
Optylon Krea Offices
Optylon Krea’s new office space boasts a privileged view over Lisbon, with the Tagus River and famous hills as backdrop.
View project: Optylon Krea OfficesNeed an office that performs? Contact us