Historical and contemporary features come together

The new offices of global online marketplace Fiverr are located in Tel Aviv’s Beit Ha’ikarim - a historic building listed for conservation. 

The first six floors are offices where people work in open spaces, in which different kinds of conference rooms are embedded, like ‘phone booths’. The top floor, with an outdoor terrace, is the ‘public’ area, with meeting rooms, a cafeteria, and a gym for workers’ wellbeing.

The three new floors of offices which have been added were designed by Setter architects. Inspiration for the design drew on the cultural-geographic context of the project’s location and the Fiverr’s cosmopolitan activity that brings together ‘sellers’ – artists and freelancers – with ‘buyers’ – entrepreneurs and small businesses worldwide.

Since the offices are located in a building listed for conservation, whose renovation included the addition of new floors, it allows a natural and authentic dialogue between old and new which is reflected internally. The design produced representations of the dynamic and cosmopolitan city by relating to textures found in the construction history of Tel Aviv. For example, old walls constructed from silicate have been created alongside contemporary, unprocessed construction materials, such as exposed concrete blocks.

Setter Architects also took inspiration from patterns used worldwide, applying them in light-fixtures and woodwork, as well as in ceiling and flooring materials. This is particularly evident in the Troldtekt acoustic ceilings which cover most of the 5000sqm of space and create perfect working conditions by reducing reverberation and echoes from the hard surfaces. 

Elsewhere, the architects have used recycled wooden window-frames from Tel Aviv’s buildings, dating back to the Beit Ha’ikarim period, often modified to form partitions between the cosy interesting booths and conference rooms. Regular building blocks are used in their natural form, creating walls with a three-dimensional, colourful texture and introducing moss-green tones into brand new spaces, while flea-market furniture is mixed with contemporary furniture. In addition, the interior encourages graphic elements and artworks.