A large health club plays a major role in tech giant Microsoft’s recently opened R&D campus in Israel, which was designed to "re-define office working".

Located in the city of Herzliya, the campus has been designed ​​in partnership with Vered Gindi Architects and GSArch and utilises Microsoft’s concept of team-based “neighbourhoods”, which is based on the idea of being big enough to offer public interaction but small enough to give privacy when needed.

The 46,000sq m leisure space is meant to be part of employees’ social and cultural life and contains all of the elements of a daily routine – from a café with baristas, a "band practice room" and a 1,000sq m health club to sports facilities.

Among the guiding design principles were to lessen the campus’ long-term impact on the environment and to offer a flexible, inclusive workspace that can be "endlessly customised" to fit employee needs.

The corporate gym features a large floor fitted with cardio and strength equipment and a circuit training system.

Separately, there is also a large yoga and exercise room for employees to use.

Equipment in the gym has been supplied by Technogym.

The Herzliya campus is also the first in Israel to have secured LEED V4 Building Design and Construction Gold certification, making it one of the most sustainable buildings in the country.

The campus uses atmospheric generators that pull moisture from the air to produce drinking water. The system will create 237,000 liters of fresh water per year.

The campus has 800sq m of photovoltaic cells, which will provide 100 per cent of the power needed to run the dining facilities and the exterior lighting.

The building is also equipped with an advanced double-skin curtain wall with integrated automatic interior blinds, which both help deflect sunlight and keep the buildings from overheating in the first place.

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime project,” said Tel Aviv-based Lead Architect Vered Gindi of Vered Gindi Architects.

“We started with fundamental questions like ‘Why does a person actually want to come into an office?’ and ‘Why do they need an office at all?’

"We aimed to create a space that would continue to be relevant for decades; no matter what comes next."

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