Project Team
-
Atrium Lighting, Flos, Zero Lighting, Northern, Formation Lighting, Artemide, &tradition, Solus, Shaw contract, Quadrant, Artigo, Tarkett, Abstracta, Svensson, Devorm, Kvadrat, Stoneville, Sona spray, Corian, Formica, Clayworks, London Wall, Brunner, Task, Herman Miller, Your Workplace, Naughtone, Grow Tropicals, Exubia, Overbury, Spacecraft, M&E Services Design, Sandy Brown
Text provided by Align Design and Architecture
The client came to Align Design and Architecture with the brief to create a highly singular and bespoke office of 11,000 sq ft of net internal space from a site that had been delivered in standard Cat A condition. A high-spec scheme for a leading global insurance company, located high up in a glass-and-steel tower in the heart of the City of London. The new space needed to have two functionally-separate office areas for two different businesses within the same overarching company, incorporating 50 desk spaces each, plus an additional 10 executive desks in the south-facing section, as well as a suite of shared meeting facilities and support areas. The brief was highly open and creative and asked for the incorporation of evocative cues inspired by the company’s Bermuda HQ location, as well as an overall space-plan guided by the 3,000-year-old practice of Feng Shui.
Two of the scheme’s most stand-out features resulted directly from this line of exploration: the tropical terrarium and the bespoke feature lighting that hangs from the corridor ceilings, referencing the stalactites of Bermuda’s famous Crystal Caves. Staff wellbeing areas are generously allocated, from quiet focus areas for working to a dedicated breakout space featuring worktops with high stools and a striking banquette seating area. A yoga studio, meanwhile, is a zen space, featuring a full-height joinery wall with inset bench with storage drawers, lockers and plenty of timber for a warm, relaxing feel.
