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London’s gentlemen’s clubs informed the rich material palette of dark stained oak, aged leather and natural textiles in this London office interior by Hollie Bowden. More
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London studio SODA based the bold interiors of The Office Group’s Liberty House offices on Regent Street on the colourful prints of the adjacent Liberty London department store.The studio created the interiors for two separate, flexible workspaces in the same building, called Liberty House and Liberty Rooms.
While the designs vary in the two areas, both were informed by the classic fabric Liberty prints produced by the department store next door.
Above: warm terracotta hues were used for the interiors. Top image: arched doorways decorate the rooms
The larger workspaces of Liberty House features a calmer, more neutral palette of colours and materials than the bold event spaces and meeting rooms in Liberty Rooms.
The department store originally traded out of Liberty House, before moving one door down.
“The relationship with the Liberty’s department store was the starting point for the graphic identity and the interior concept,” SODA architect Parvathy Vipulendran told Dezeen.
“The iconic Liberty prints inspired the colour palette of the design, while the mock-Tudor building inspired the high-end retail aesthetic and crafted objects positioned throughout the scheme.”
The building hosts two contemporary workspaces, Liberty House and Liberty Rooms
The studio wanted to ensure that the interior had a coherent design language, something it thought especially important for “a building of this grandeur.” Liberty House is a Grade II-listed building.
In order to keep the interior design coherent, the studio chose to remove a number of non-load bearing walls to open the space up and create an “appropriate” sense of scale for the rooms, which include meeting rooms, focus booths, breakout spaces, lounges, private offices and a kitchen and dining area.
Cold and warm colours are mixed in the kitchen and dining area
SODA used a colour palette of neutral warm beiges for the office spaces and bolder colours, such as dark petrol blue hues, bright yellow and warm terracotta, for the more public spaces, the meeting rooms and the bathrooms.
The material use and form language inside the building was also informed by its well-known neighbour as well as by the Liberty House building itself.
The colour palette was inspired by the building and by Liberty London fabrics
“We built a core material palette that was inspired by Liberty House and the Liberty fabrics, which comprised of scalloped panelling, tiling, oak joinery and floors, reeded glass, and more functional materials such as vinyl,” Vipulendran said.
“The scalloped surfaces can be seen in the facade of Liberty House, so it was a really nice way to bring the language of the exterior internally and apply it on key joinery elements.”
Terrazzo adds pattern interest to a kitchen in warm neutral colours
The scalloped design of the house’s facade was also referenced on some of the doors inside Liberty House.
“The routing on the upper floor tea points and doors has the same rhythm as the scallop and elevate these doors above a standard office door,” Vipulendran said.
“The rhythm of these vertical lines are beautifully complemented by the lines of the curtains through the scheme.”
SODA creates contemporary MYO offices inside 1970s London building
In some of the spaces, including tea points and bathrooms, SODA chose to use Altrock and Durat terrazzo material to create more striking patterned interiors. The studio collaborated with Altrock to create bespoke coloured surfaces that would match the design.
Handcrafted objects decorate the space
As well as informing the colours and shapes of the office space, the Liberty department store also lent some of its in-store aesthetic to the interior, which features a number of hand-crafted objects throughout as well as pieces that nod to display cases.
“This is expressed most clearly in the main lounge and reception, where we used light, bright tiled surfaces to highlight key joinery objects,” Vipulendran said.
“These were inspired by the craftsmanship and the display of high-end items in Liberty. These jewel-box cabinetry pieces are arranged through the reception and lounge to create islands of social activity along the length of this open space.”
Large period windows allow light to fall into the lounge
SODA’s branding for the project also plays off Liberty London’s typeface, with an abstract pattern derived from the letters “Liberty” used to create prints on both textiles and surfaces inside Liberty House.
While the final design encompasses many different types of rooms, one stands out to Vipulendran.
“The lounge is particularly spectacular as from this space you can really appreciate the richness of Liberty House and its prominent location along Regent Street,” the architect said.
“The room comes to life in the afternoon when the sunlight falls through the big period windows and illuminates the variety of surfaces.”
SODA recently designed the interiors for a flexible workspace in a gridded 1970s building, while The Office Group’s latest London workspace prior to this one was designed by Note Design Studio.
Photography is by Ed Reeve.
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Stockholm-based Note Design Studio used neutral colours and contrasting bright hues to reinvigorate the interiors of the Douglas House office building in London.Note Design Studio designed the Douglas House office space, which has 700 desks spread over six floors, for office developer The Office Group (TOG). It had previously designed the Summit House property for the company.
Note Design Studio used natural materials and bright colours for the interiors of Douglas House
The Swedish studio aimed to “break the grid” of the 14,235-square-metre 1930s office building, which has a vertical layout and red brick-facade.
“As a building, Douglas House is very ‘rational’ in its architecture,” designer Johannes Carlström told Dezeen. “Even though it stretches quite far horizontally, it was vertical in its structure and spatial program.”
Pieces by contemporary design brands are used throughout the space
“We realised early that we wanted to ‘break the grid’ of the building and deliver an interior less predictable than what is expected from the industrial appearance of the facade,” he added.
“That also related to a more abstract idea about breaking the conformity of our everyday lives, to design a place that actually shakes you up a bit when entering for your workday.”
The studio focused on how the space would make users feel
While many office spaces are designed to enhance productivity, Note Design Studio said its focus for Douglas House was more on creating the right feeling and mood.
To create a space that would, in the words of the studio, bring a “gentle punch” to office design, it used contrasting colours and materials throughout the space.
“The palette ranges from deep ochres to brisk light blues, calm chalk tones, popping reds and vivid blues,” Carlström said.
Meeting rooms are painted in calm blue nuances
The studio aimed to keep as much of the original details as possible but had to replace a lot of materials that were in poor condition. The original wooden floors, however, were lifted, renovated and put back into place.
“We have worked with giving the building a more defined character by using materials that will live long together with the building itself,” Carlström said.
A curvilinear glass wall connects the main spaces and adds privacy to meeting rooms
A curvilinear wall made from glass blocks has been added to the ground floor to connects its three main public spaces.
Note Design Studio includes recharge room in central London co-working space for TOG
“It stretches through the whole building giving spatial richness to the promenade between different functions of the ground floor as well as a vivid backdrop enhanced by the activity of the meeting rooms that are blurred through the glass blocks,” Carlström explained.
“The curve also creates unique footprints for the meeting rooms and the three communal spaces, which with a straight wall would have been more or less identical to one another in terms of space.”
Materials such as ceramic tiles were chosen for their durability
Other materials used for the project were chosen for their durability, as office buildings experience extensive wear and tear, and their reusability. They include steel, glass and ceramic tiles, as well as 100 per cent recyclable Tarkett IQ plastic wall and floor coverings.
Douglas House was also given solar panels and a green biodiverse roof to further enhance its sustainability credentials.
The Douglas House reception features a desk clad in Ettore Sottsass’ veneer
Note Design Studio also added a number of design touches to the interior, including a reception desk in Ettore Sottsass veneer for Alpi in a striking blue-grey colour, and pieces from brands including Artrex and Muller van Severen in bright hues.
Newly commissioned pieces from artists and designers including Jenny Nordberg, Jochen Holz, Wang & Söderström, Philipp Schenk-Mischke, James Shaw, Mijo Studio and Studio Furthermore also fill the building.
Pale blue chairs contrast beige tiles and dark wood
Douglas House also includes an “oxygen room” – a plant-filled space where the idea is that workers can relax and connect with nature, the “recharge room”, gym, cafe and a mothers’ room which is dedicated to nursing mothers.
“We have worked with the whole building and designed small or big things on every square metre basically,” Carlström said. “A lot of the office spaces are done in the same manner, but the public and communal spaces all have their unique design attributes.”
Earthy, warm hues create a welcoming feel
Douglas House has 700 desks for over 1,000 employees and opened in November 2020. Note Design Studio thinks the final design has succeeded in creating a different kind of office space.
“From our point of view it differs on many levels – it has a lot more expression than you normally see in an office space, a diversity of tempos and functions allowing people to choose what suits them best that specific day,” Carlström said.
Among the studio’s other recent projects are the pastel-coloured Mantelpiece Loft interiors in Stockholm and a reusable trade fair stand for Vestre.
Photography is courtesy of The Office Group.
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