A conversation with Aurora Kim

Aurora Kim founded Drift Studio, a product design team based in Berlin, in 2019. We worked with her on the design of their new headquarters in 2024 — a two-floor fit-out in Mitte that opened earlier this year. We sat down with her recently to talk about the brief, the process, and what it's like to ask architects for the opposite of what they usually hear.

On the brief

Mira: The first thing you said in our initial meeting was "no open plan." Where did that come from?

Aurora: It came from working in too many of them. I'd been in three open-plan offices before founding Drift. The last one was supposed to be the dream — exposed pipes, plants, a coffee bar. I couldn't concentrate for more than twenty minutes at a time. None of us could.

Mira: What did you want instead?

Productivity is about getting more done. Focus is about being able to think clearly enough to know what to do.

Aurora: I wanted a building that took focus seriously. Not productivity. Focus. Those are different things.

On finding the right studio

Mira: Was that hard to communicate to other firms?

Aurora: It was almost impossible. Three studios I interviewed kept showing me images of "warm modern workspaces" that were still open plan. They'd softened the materials but kept the openness. I'd start describing what I actually wanted and they'd nod and then send back the same proposals.

Mira: What changed when we started?

Aurora: You drew a diagram. I still have it. It was a section through the building showing the upper floor as completely separated rooms — like a row of small studies — and the ground floor as the only communal space. The diagram said the building was upside down compared to a normal office, where the conference rooms are private and the desks are exposed. We made the desks private. It changed everything.

One year in

Mira: How are the team finding it now?

Aurora: They're quieter than they were. They produce better work. They tell me they sleep better.

Mira: Anything you'd change?

Aurora: Honestly, no. Well — maybe a slightly bigger kitchen. We didn't realize how much of the social life of the studio would migrate there.