Universal Design Studio

Subterms

    Latest story

    150 Shares159 Views

    Headquarters of crypto company Copper designed to “provide a sense of assurance”

    by

    Universal Design Studio put a modern spin on the design conventions of bank buildings when creating the headquarters for cryptocurrency firm Copper inside a Richard Rogers-designed office in London.

    Copper – a fintech company that helps financial institutions to securely store and trade cryptocurrencies – wanted to break away from London’s financial districts and instead set up its office inside Soho’s Broadwick House.
    Copper’s headquarters are located in the Richard Rogers-designed Broadwick HouseThe building was originally completed by the Richard Rogers Partnership in 2000 and was renovated last year before Copper brought in Universal Design Studio to devise the interiors.
    The local practice introduced familiar materials such as marble and walnut into Copper’s HQ to “provide a sense of assurance”.
    Copper-toned curtains provide a sense of privacyThese are contrasted with more contemporary elements including stainless steel, kinetic screens and dynamic light boxes that help to create “an uncanny and cinematic environment”.

    “The design approach draws in part upon historic icons of banking architecture through a contemporary lens, to create a familiar space that feels safe, whilst also pushing the boundaries on expectations,” the practice said.
    “Being able to contain that within an architectural landmark is very special.”
    Private meeting rooms are set back from the facade at the core of the buildingThe lobby features Jesmonite wall panels, referencing the marble-wrapped entrances found in more traditional banks.
    By contrast, a gold desk, alcove and gridded lightbox ceiling give a cinematic feel to the lobby and “allude to some of the more unexpected design elements further up the building”, according to Universal Design Studio.
    “This idea of bringing together two distinctive finishes that are different recurs throughout the building, to echo the safe and trusted nature of finance with a new digital future,” the practice said.
    The building’s new “Copper Core” is clad in dark timberRogers’s original architectural concept for the building focussed on transparency, with glazed facades providing high levels of light penetration.
    Universal Design Studio sought to work with this vision, creating light-infused workspaces with a focus on natural materials.
    Lightbox ceilings provide dramatic illumination”The main workspaces for the Copper team are light, with a connection to the street level around the perimeter, playing to the strengths of the original facade design,” the studio said.
    “But given the nature of what Copper do, an element of privacy was also essential.”

    Intg designs Korean bank lounge with “floating meeting room”

    To achieve this, the studio designed a more opaque “Copper Core” that runs through the entire building, punctuating each floor and containing private spaces such as meeting rooms and quiet rooms.
    Set away from the exterior facade, the meeting rooms in the core of the building are inevitably less light-filled than the main work areas.
    Meeting rooms are panelled with walnut woodTo create spaces that still felt inviting, Universal chose to panel the walls with walnut, harnessing the tactility of this natural material to add a feeling of safety and familiarity.
    Stainless steel thresholds were added to create a sense of arrival, as team members move away from general working areas into the Copper Core.
    The interiors were designed to inspire a sense of trust and securityIn another nod to the concept of privacy, Universal designed a copper-toned curtain that is found on each floor level, running the full perimeter of the facade.
    “Operated digitally, each floor’s curtain closes in unison,” the studio said. “The curtain was also conceived as a type of visual security, locking down the building at night.”
    The top floors were designed for hosting clientsVisiting clients are received on the sixth and seventh floors of the building where the meeting rooms take on a hospitality focus, with bar and banquette-style seating capitalising on Broadwick House’s views across the city.
    “These areas are styled on a members’ club to serve the Copper team and its clients,” Universal Design Studio said.
    “The sixth floor has a focus on gathering both physically and digitally. Cinematic experiences are again utilised in this space with dramatic sliding digital screens for large events and presentations.”
    Guests can take in the views from banquette-style seating boothsOther unconventional interiors belonging to financial institutions include Hana Bank in Seoul with its “floating” meeting room and Citibank Singapore, which was designed to resemble a giant conservatory.
    The photography is by Ed Reeve.

    Read more: More

    More stories

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Rooms

      Universal Design Studio models Biotherm's Monaco concept store on a laboratory

      by

      The visual language of scientific laboratories informed the look of this blue-lit concept store in Monaco, which London firm Universal Design Studio has devised for skincare brand Biotherm.

      Set inside Monaco’s historic Oceanographic Institute, Blue Beauty Lab is where buyers and other industry insiders can come to expand their knowledge of the science underpinning Biotherm’s skincare line.
      Visitors enter the Blue Beauty Lab via a circular doorwayAlthough the 30-square-metre concept store showcases a selection of the brand’s products, none of them are for sale. Instead, visitors can fully immerse themselves in the experience of being in the “lab”.
      “Brands are increasingly looking to physical presence for means above and beyond selling products,” explained Satoshi Isono, creative director at Universal Design Studio.
      “They’re harnessing spaces to storytell their core brand messaging in unique ways and ultimately connect with customers in a more impactful way.”

      The first section of the store is set up like a science labAs the outer walls of Blue Beauty Lab back onto water tanks harbouring various aquatic creatures, Universal Design Studio had to keep architectural interventions to a minimum. As a result, the store’s floor plan is fairly simple.
      To enter, visitors walk through a circular doorway and a short mirrored tunnel. The interior is washed in sea-blue light and split into two parts.
      Steel worktops and petri dishes add to the lab-like feel of the spaceThe first is an area reminiscent of a research lab that gives an insight into the production process of Life Plankton – an extract containing 35 different nutrients that Biotherm incorporates throughout some of its moisturisers, serums and skin peels.
      Stainless steel counters and glass shelving units run down the sides of the space, dotted with science paraphernalia like microscopes, petri dishes, test tubes and measuring flasks.

      Johannes Torpe Studio creates laboratory-style bicycle store for United Cycling

      A small workshop forms the second part of the store, centred by a round table. Directly above is a large ring light emitting a bright white glow that enhances the lab-like feel of the space.
      Interactive visuals produced by multimedia design studios Superbien and AC3 Studio are projected on the surrounding walls.
      Measuring flasks and test tubes are also displayed on the shelvesThe clinical aesthetic of laboratories has also inspired a number of other interiors.
      Among them is a bike shop in Copenhagen by local designer Johannes Torpe and a cafe in Tokyo with a white-lacquered steel ceiling grid.

      Read more: More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Rooms

      Universal Design Studio draws on libraries and members' clubs for Euston workspace

      by

      London-based Universal Design Studio’s interiors for The Office Group’s latest workspace in Euston was informed by nearby buildings including the British Library.

      Called 210 Euston Road, the interior was created by Universal Design Studio together with workspace provider The Office Group (TOG’s) head of design Nasim Köerting, and nods to the many well-known institutions that are located in the same London neighbourhood.
      A cafe sits on the ground floor of the office building”Quite simply, the design was inspired by the location,” Köerting told Dezeen. “210 Euston Road is flanked by a host of influential national institutions, including the British Library, the Royal College of Physicians and the Wellcome Trust.”
      “These illustrious neighbours inspired our ambition to create a classic yet contemporary institution-like space that references the surrounding centres of learning and knowledge,” she added.
      Inside, wooden floors and decorative lamps create an organic feelThe 6,400-square-metre, seven-storey building was redeveloped to create more than 800 workspaces.

      Its ground floor houses a cafe that is open to the public, as well as a large reception and a residency space.
      Bright furniture offsets neutral wall coloursTwo of the building’s upper floors will be used as offices for individual businesses, while other floors have smaller office units as well as co-working spaces.
      To create a space that would be made to last and “reference an institution but not be institutional”, the designers looked to the architecture of buildings including the British Museum and University College London, Universal Design Studio associate director Carly Sweeney explained.
      Spaces were informed by library reading rooms”One of the hero points of the design references the traditional reading room that is found in these spaces – a library arguably being the original coworking space,” she said.
      “To echo this we created a hidden coworking lounge – this space cannot be seen from the outside and the hidden nature lends to the feeling of privilege to be there. ”
      A bar clad in dark tiles decorates the seventh-floor members’ spaceTo give each space in the large building a different feel, Universal Design Studio worked with a material palette that changes as the floors ascend, culminating in a members’ bar on the seventh floor that has a tiled bar and a ceiling made of tactile cork.
      “The public-facing ground floor is light and airy, with a ‘library’-style interior that features a cork floor, timber screens, bespoke reading lights and leather detailing on the desks,” Sweeney told Dezeen.

      Note Design Studio creates colourful interiors to “break the grid” of 1930s office building

      “As you travel up through the building, the seventh floor feels much more like a members’ club,” she added.
      “This space is more luxurious, there is again an abundance of light here so to create a contrast we used a darker palette. There is rich material tactility via the tiled island and upholstery.”
      The lobby has a rope-like neon light installationUniversal Design Studio’s references to the surrounding buildings in the Euston area are perhaps most notable on the ground floor, where a decorative neon light installation above the reception desk draws to mind the neon installations in the windows of the Wellcome Collection across the road.
      In a meeting room next to the lobby, decorative sculptures and vases seem to nod to the nearby British Museum, while a collection of oil paintings on the wall will be regularly replaced, like in a gallery space.
      A library-style space is livened up by an undulating ceilingThe studio also added an unusual undulating ceiling to the library-style ground floor room, creating an eye-catching detail in the room, which has an otherwise muted design with cream and wood colours.
      Specially designed slim reading lights in a purplish-blue hue add a touch of colour.
      Wooden materials are used throughout the building”As with other noteworthy institutions we wanted to create a moment that makes anyone entering the space feel grounded,” Sweeney said.
      “It is cathedral-like in its stature but also cocooning,” she said of the ceiling.
      “It allows for a change of pace in one of the most special spaces in the building. Similar in nature to other institutions such as the ceiling in the British Museum, it also creates a ‘moment’ upon entering the space.”
      The top floor has a roof terrace with a view over EustonThe building is the first TOG workspace to open since the coronavirus pandemic began and its design aimed to reflect the changing needs of the workplace once people began coming back to the office.
      “We landed on the aim to create an environment that one couldn’t replicate in the home – a space that could attract people back to the workplace without compromising freedom and flexibility,” Köerting said.
      “We achieved this by providing plenty of choice and myriad amenities.”
      TOG and Universal Design Studio designed the space during the pandemicUniversal Design Studio also created the lobby for a Hopkins Architects-designed office in the City of London, which features railway-informed terrazzo tracks on the floor.
      Other TOG locations in London include a workspace close to department store Liberty and a 1930s building with pops of colour designed by Note Design Studio.

      Read more: More