It’s happening again — Namogoo’s new meeting rooms design hot from the oven
Two and a half years after designing Namogoo’s meeting rooms, we expanded to two more floors, and guess what? Those floors have nine meeting rooms! As part of this blog, I will describe what it was like to design the new rooms, the stories behind each room, and my personal experience.
Nothing makes a designer happier than being allowed to let his imagination run wild and realize what he sees in his imagination — And that is exactly what happened here. A free hand was given to me to create the concept and bring a personal touch to the offices.
Namogoo deals with the customer journey and the desire to deliver each customer, the journey that suits him. When I was asked to come up with a concept, it was very important to me to connect my concept to the company vision.
The rooms are inspired by journeys in a variety of areas: land discovery, time travel, a famous trail, an art space, a journey in a song, a movie, and more. Each room presents a different journey and is inspired by it. The spaces beckon to the digital world and together create an imaginary and infinite space in which anything can happen.
Let’s dive into the interesting details…
Ten Forty
The first room is called Ten Forty, the length of The Israel National Trail. The trail is a hiking path that crosses the entire country of Israel. Its northern end is at Dan, near the Lebanese border in the far north of the country, and it extends to Eilat at the southernmost tip of Israel on the Red Sea.
The room displays the trail markings, flowers and plants typical in Israel such as Anemone, Cyclamen, Cactus, and a map showing the trail route.
Edmund
Edmund Percival Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.
In the room is an image of a mountain summit as a victory image, that also shows bees climbing since Edmund was also a beekeeper.
Dorothy
Dorothy is a fictional character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz novels. In the story, she travels along the Yellow Bricks Road on her way to the Wizard. The road is described as a path whose stones are painted yellow, when according to some commentators the road symbolizes joy and hope and is therefore painted in this color.
The road functions as a guideline that leads all who follow it, to the road’s ultimate destination — the imperial capital of Oz called Emerald City which is located in the exact center of the entire continent.
In the room, the cyclone that uproots the farmhouse from its foundations and carries Dorothy and Toto (her dog) to the “Land of Oz”, the red shoes of Dorothy (and Elton John on the album cover of Goodbye Yellow Brick road), the yellow road with the black silhouette of Dorothy and her companions: the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion, screens with: the number 1900-the year when the first book came out and Toto-Dorothy’s dog.
Shackleton
“Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” Ernest Henry Shackleton, 1914.
These are the words that British antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton chose to recruit people for a delegation he organized to the ice continent, Antarctica. Despite the amused tone, the description was not absurd.
Shackleton’s journey has become the greatest survival adventure in history, and one of the rare examples of leadership in conditions of extreme difficulty. Shackleton entered history not necessarily because of his accomplishments, but precisely because of the glorious failure in history. Only Shackleton’s personality and leadership actually brought everyone home alive.
In the room are three lifeboats that rescued Shackleton and his men from the sinking ship, a camera they had in their possession, silhouettes of people on the glaciers — inspired by the silhouettes in their photographs, the sentence “The Journey is Everything”: a motto of a Boston educational institution named after Shackleton
Cornelis
Maurits Cornelis Escher was a Dutch artist from the surrealist stream, who became famous for his graphic works. Use the technique of woodcuts, stone prints and wood engravings.
His use of perspective and magnitude in his works create a sense of immersion in a world of hallucinations and illusions of the senses in the viewer. His works fascinated mathematicians who saw them as a visual illustration of the mathematical principles of pattern, symmetry and an aspiration to infinity.
The room is an Infinite surrealistic space, a wooden cube as an impossible object — a tribute to Cornelis’ well-known technique in woodcuts.
Marty
Marty is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Back to the Future franchise.
The story takes place in 1985, when Marty, a teenager, is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a time-traveling DeLorean automobile. Trapped in the past, Marty inadvertently prevents his future parents’ meeting — threatening his existence — and is forced to reconcile the pair and somehow get back to the future.
In the room a swirl of objects like Marty’s red vest, the time-traveling DeLorean automobile, antique objects, and lightning.
Nilus
This room tells the story of The Exodus, the founding myth of the Israelites, their liberation from slavery to Pharaoh led by Moses sent by God. It describes Israelite enslavement and departure from Egypt by crossing the Red Sea, revelations at biblical Mount Sinai, and wanderings in the wilderness 40 years up to the borders of Canaan.
As part of the Jewish tradition, the story of the Exodus is passed down from father to son from generation to generation.
In the room is a silhouette of Moses at the parting of the Red Sea, a mask of Tutankhamun who was an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, silhouettes of a camel train and pyramids.
Apollo
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin formed the American crew that landed the Apollo.
When Armstrong first stepped onto the lunar surface, he famously said: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”.
Apollo 11’s mission patch was used as inspiration for the room’s design, inside: the eagle-the national bird of the United States, with an olive branch in his talons (the olive branch as a symbol of the peaceful expedition).
Ithaka
The room is inspired by the poem ‘Ithaka’. The poem was written by Constantine Cavafy, a Greek poet. It deals on the one hand with Odysseus’ mythological journey to Ithaca (an island in Greece), but on the other hand, he also talks about our Ithaca, of all those who set out on a journey.
Cavafy took the story and turned it into an example of a journey, and what each one can and should derive from it: rejoice in the way you go, the places you see, and the experiences you gain.
Ithaka may be the destination, but what is more important than the destination is the road to it, and what is added to your luggage along the way and over the years.
In the room, Poseidon and Cyclops, which according to the song we should not be afraid of, the sun — in order to wake up to many summer mornings, corals and pearls as a wish to purchase the best things along the way, a quote from the song with a picture of Cavafy.
Acknowledgments
The project would not have happened without the help of many people who took part. I want to thank Maayan Chayo the interior designers who led the entire project and gave me the opportunity to take part in an amazing and special journey. Working together again was very enjoyable and fulfilling, and all along I felt that we were on the same page.
Finally, the ability to think creatively outside the box is only possible when the customer trusts you and gives you a free hand. In this case, the customers were Chemi Katz and Ohad Greenshpan, the founders of Namogoo. Nothing would have been possible without them. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to be part of this special and amazing project.
