Case Study

Endless possibilities - Wise HQ in Tallinn

Wise’s new 27,000 m² Volta Quarter office is a living office where architecture, indoor climate, and digital layers merge into a workplace of the future. Here you’ll find an overview of the work, the outcome, and the people behind it.

Challenge

Process

Interior

Layers

Insights

Challenge

Process

Interior

Layers

Insights

Gallery

A decade’s work realized in two years: designing a human-centered, sustainable, and measurable-impact workplace that brings people together.

Location: Krulli Quarter, Tallinn, Estonia

Completed: 2022 – March 2025

Size: 27,000 m²

Capacity: 2,000+ employees / 1,780 workstations

TOP 9

Worldwide Leesman Index

1/3

Reused Furniture upcycled

50%

Attendance Increase in daily visits

In the post-pandemic world, the role of the office environment has changed. A home office supports focus and flexibility, but creativity, team energy, and spontaneous ideas primarily emerge when people are together. The question is not about opposition, but about balance: what can a consciously designed workplace offer that a home space cannot replace?

The question is not about opposition, but about balance: what can a consciously designed workplace offer that a home space cannot replace?

The answer to this question was sought in the creation of Wise's new headquarters in the Krulli quarter in Tallinn. In place of the former factory building, a 27,000 square meter workspace was established, uniting the physical, digital, and experiential space into a single whole. This is not merely an office, but a living environment that grows with the people - and whose impact is also confirmed by Leesman® survey results.

Leesman Report

The question is not about opposition, but about balance: what can a consciously designed workplace offer that a home space cannot replace?

Leesman Report

Lobby

Kitchen

2nd Floor

Exterior

Tallinn

Kitchen

3rd Floor

Huddle

3rd Floor

The process was like a high-speed train, requiring a delicate balance: maintaining contact with hundreds of project partners while simultaneously laying new tracks to keep moving forward. Laser focus and view of the big picture - essential.

Client: Wise

Developer: Invego

Architect: Martin Aunin

Interior Architect and PM: LÄVI sisearhitektid

Construction: NOBE

Key Partners: Colliers, OCCO, Velvet, Creative Union, Kosmos, Retlar, Silen, Nord/Digilock, Jungle Garden, Akustikainsener, Avaeksperdid, Esvika, Floorin, Lincona, Structo, Arle reklaam, TK-Team, Balteco, Tekero, Vivarec, Spazio, Nordic Wood, Thermory, Parmet, Ecophon, Baubauwall

Work on Wise HQ began in 2022, when Wise, real estate developer Invego, and LÄVI Interior Architects set out to envision a next-generation workplace. The challenge was heightened by the fact that the existing factory building was never intended to accommodate such a dense concentration of workstations.

Each floor carries its own architectural character, shaped by the positions of ventilation shafts and light wells, which informed the spatial layout from the start.

Technical systems and circulation routes were planned hand-in-hand with architectural and interior design, ensuring that functionality and aesthetics developed together.

Circulation became a central focus. In addition to six existing stairwells, new open staircases were introduced, creating an “inner loop” that connects floors and integrates shared areas, huddle spaces, and meeting rooms. While beginning from scratch meant tackling many unknowns simultaneously, it allowed key activities and flows to be designed at precisely the right stage. In this way, circulation routes and interior design solutions are not merely decorative - they are integral to the building’s performance, ensuring a workplace that functions as effectively as it looks.

Technical systems and circulation routes were planned hand-in-hand with architectural and interior design, ensuring that functionality and aesthetics developed together.

Simultaneous design, budgeting, and construction meant constant live project management, with every decision made in real time. The entire process demanded exceptional precision and collaboration, which allowed the team to stay on budget and on schedule.

Timeline

2022

summer

Team assembled

2022

autumn

First sketches for Wise

2022

winter

Construction begins

2023

summer

Shell & Core completed

2023

summer

Furniture procurement

2024

autumn

Topping out celebration

2025

spring

Furniture installation

2025

spring

Project completed and Wise moves in

Completed and Wise moves in

Shortcut to success? Choosing smarter tracks and skipping shortcuts.

The success of a large-scale project always rests on several pillars: close collaboration, a clear goal, a holistic perspective, and the freedom to be creative.

Many contributors, one goal

The project clearly demonstrated the importance of involving the entire team from day one and defining a shared objective. This was not a typical office project, but a large-scale endeavor of a kind none of the partners had previously undertaken at this scale.

A clear goal and strong project management made it possible to successfully navigate complex collaboration. The design-build approach ensured that work stayed strictly within both budget and schedule. With a tight timeline from the start, every decision demanded maximum precision and flexibility from all partners.

Boundless creativity – “but how could we?”

Technical constraints and tight deadlines set limits, yet creativity still found a way. Partners and designers brought their best ideas and experimented with solutions that transformed the space into an inspiring work environment. Wise HQ demonstrates how unrestricted possibilities and creativity can take concrete form, creating real value for people.

A holistic perspective in everything

The greatest value of the project lay in its integrated approach. Both physical and digital environments were considered and woven into a single, functioning whole. Each space and solution was treated as part of a larger system, avoiding the typical cost-cutting mindset of optimizing individual components in isolation. In the end, this integrated effort preserves quality, minimizes the need for later corrections, and manifests both in emotional impact and measurable data.

Light Well

3rd Floor

Going Places: How we broke the corporate mold to build a city within a building

The City Within

To humanize the massive 27,000 m² footprint, we treated the office not merely as a building, but as a dynamic city. The concept "Going Places" reflects Wise’s global reach, bringing the diversity of the world into one cohesive system. Just like a city, the office rejects monotony. Circulation paths wind like organic streets, breaking long sightlines and opening up into social "squares" and "parks."

We used materials to define "neighborhoods"- as you walk through the floors, the interior shifts from raw concrete and cool metals to warm wood and textured plaster. This zoning serves as intuitive wayfinding, helping people navigate the vast space through feeling rather than just signage.

A Living Ecosystem

In a hybrid world, a meeting room must offer an experience, not just a table. Specific rooms to trigger creativity and offer an escape were designed: a "Not a Sauna" clad in thermally modified wood, a "1001 Nights" relaxation area, and "Babylon" with Ishtar Gate visuals. At a collaborative competition, students from the Estonian Academy of Arts also creatively designed a meeting room.

But a city also needs to breathe. Nature was integrated deeply into the layout, using over 7,000 liters of soil to feed greenery that boosts well-being. Sustainability was equally vital – instead of buying everything new, we refurbished and reused 1/3 of the loose furniture, blending the old with the new to give the space character and reduce its footprint.

The City Within

A Living Ecosystem

Inspired by Wise’s global footprint, each floor adopts a unique regional identity. This creates an intuitive navigation system where shifting materials and palettes allow you to find your way by feeling rather than signage only.

Huddle

2nd Floor

Moodboard palette

1st Floor

Nordic

1st Floor

Nordic

1st Floor

Nordic

1st Floor

Nordic

2nd Floor

South Europe

2nd Floor

South Europe

2nd Floor

South Europe

2nd Floor

South Europe

3rd Floor

Asia

3rd Floor

Asia

3rd Floor

Asia

3rd Floor

Asia

4th Floor

South America

4th Floor

South America

4th Floor

South America

4th Floor

South America

5th Floor

Middle-East & North-Africa

5th Floor

Middle-East & North-Africa

5th Floor

Middle-East & North-Africa

5th Floor

Middle-East & North-Africa

Huddle

5th Floor

Kitchen

1st Floor

Endless Possibilities: Moving beyond standard signage to create a mixed-reality environment where screens act as mood setters, not just billboards.

When Wise asked for "out of the box" thinking, it didn’t simply mean bold colors or new technologies. The goal was to explore what an office could be if there were no limits. What could the collaboration between physical and digital space look like if it were shaped from the very beginning through the lens of human experience?

A Digital Brand in a Physical World

Wise’s identity was born on screens - defined by bold typography, vibrant energy, and distinct motion. The challenge was to translate this digital-first language into a permanent physical environment without it feeling like temporary stickers on a wall. With over 2,900 signage points across the building, the wayfinding system had to be rigorous enough to guide people through a "vertical city" yet playful enough to feel distinctly Wise.

The Three Layers of Graphics

As a result, a set of principles emerged that divided this layered system into three distinct yet interconnected worlds. Each one had a shared purpose: to support employees practically, psychologically, and emotionally, bringing harmony and rhythm into the invisible moments of the workday.

Functional

Navigation and clarity

Functional

Navigation and clarity

Functional

Ambient

Mood and atmosphere

Ambient

Mood and atmosphere

Ambient

Blend

Brand and expression

Blend

Brand and expression

Blend

Design team mapped out every possibility for how digital systems, spatial graphics, and the physical interior could form a whole that not only functions but also feels.

A Digital Brand in a Physical World

The Three Layers of Graphics

Functional

Navigation and clarity

Ambient

Mood and atmosphere

Blend

Brand and expression

Design team mapped out every possibility for how digital systems, spatial graphics, and the physical interior could form a whole that not only functions but also feels.

Moving Art, Not Ads

The screens in huddle areas and corridors aren't there to broadcast corporate news 24/7. Instead, we treat them as digital canvases. We curated a library of ambient 3D art that complements the physical interior. These visuals act as "mood setters," changing slowly to provide a sense of rhythm without demanding constant attention.

Analog Motion - Let’s Go Lenticular

How do you create movement without electricity? In high-traffic lift lobbies, planned LED walls were replaced with massive lenticular prints. These "analog screens" shift their image as people walk past, generating a dynamic visual experience similar to a digital display—but with zero energy use and far lower maintenance. A smart, sustainable solution.

Retro-Futurism & Glitch

To truly think "out of the box," we blended the ultra-modern with the nostalgic. In the parking and lift areas, we installed installations mixing vintage CRT TVs with modern LED panels. This contrast of technologies—displaying glitch art and raw code—physically manifests Wise’s culture of disruption and engineering roots.