In 2024, the company opened the doors of a completely redesigned space in Istanbul, Turkey—a space that Jeyan Ülkü Architects knew would need to blend American sensibilities with Turkish flair.

The architecture team partnered with MillerKnoll and MillerKnoll Certified Dealer Code Design to deliver on the client’s desire for a calm, serene office space that placed a premium on employee wellbeing, with fun and functionality going hand-in-hand.

The project goals included:

• Minimizing a feeling of hierarchy

• Prioritizing wellbeing

• Blending American and Turkish culture via the design

A welcome space characterized by serenity

The Brown-Forman office sits in Kanyon Plaza, which is situated in one of Istanbul’s busiest central areas. Amidst the bustling, vibrant setting outdoors, Jeyan Ülkü Architects - with the firm's Design Director Melis Kurultay leading the team through the overall design concept and project phase - sought out to create a calm, serene workspace.

Upon entering, a wooden canopy structure serves as a beacon for how one might move about the office and sets a calm tone. “You know when you take the whiskey and you pour it into the glass, sort of how it looks in slow-motion in those really fancy commercials, it creates this wave—that was the flow we wanted to create,” says Jeyan Ülkü, founder of his eponymous firm. “It’s both a nod to the product, and it creates a comforting, welcoming, guiding space within the office.”

The canopy is complimented by ample natural daylight, a key to employee health and wellbeing. Directly across from the entrance, the central bar—a necessary design element for a beverage purveyor—serves as a beckoning centerpiece. Beyond a place to host clients, this focal point gives employees a casual, fun place to collaborate and socialize.

Kurultay says that across the space, the Verus Chair from Herman Miller provided the ergonomic comfort their client desired, and soft seating from NaughtOne brought a contemporary, relaxed feel to the environment.

A democratized office

The team at Jeyan Ülkü notes that previous office layout was more hierarchical and compartmentalized, creating a disconnect from the global brand’s more open and inclusive vision. “They wanted a fresh start,” Ülkü says.

Kurultay and the team achieved this by relocating the enclosed rooms to the core, with the exception of a few meeting spaces, and keeping the perimeter as open and unobstructed as possible. Eliminating the majority of closed rooms also provided more space for Brown-Forman’s growing team, with a higher number of employees expected soon.

Each workstation is separated by collaborative tables, encouraging agile teamwork and spontaneous interaction. NaughtOne’s flexible Lasso seat and tables provide the opportunity for casual collaboration in the open office, while custom Knoll outfits the private meeting rooms. Throughout the space, employees are encouraged to move about throughout their day, landing wherever feels best for the task at hand.

A blending of cultures through a collaborative process

At the start of the project, Brown-Forman provided reference photos from the company’s most celebrated offices, as well as a playbook to ensure continuity between the Turkish space and the organization’s global locations. A Louisville-based collaborator from Brown-Forman, which already uses MillerKnoll furniture in its global spaces, visited Istanbul to see certified dealer Code Design’s showroom with the design team. At the end of the process, Jeyan Ülkü Architects ended up with 90 percent of the floorplate outfitted in MilllerKnoll products.

“You could go from a more traditional working environment to a casual environment, and you don’t feel too much of a difference.” Ülkü says. “Having so many brands under one umbrella to choose from, it just creates a balance.”

Balance was also the key to localizing the design for the American company. The team incorporated Turkish-patterned carpets and gridded wooden materials as a nod to early 20th-century Turkish modernism, as well as a fresh interpretation of traditional tile patterns in the bar area.

“It gave the office a multinational feel but with its roots deep down in America,” Ülkü says “Our aim here was to blend all of these in architectural language, which is how we represent things and feelings.”

It takes at least one connection and more than 13 hours to fly from Louisville to Istanbul, but the design link between this Turkish outpost and the company’s American home base makes the 5,567 miles feel like a lot less.

3-point recap

1. American spirits purveyor Brown-Forman’s new Istanbul, Turkey office needed to blend American sensibilities with Turkish flair.

2. MillerKnoll helped deliver on the client’s desire for a calm, serene office space that placed a premium on employee wellbeing.

3. The space pivoted from hierarchical and compartmentalized to more open and inclusive.