5 Questions

We each thought of 5 interview style questions for the group to ask us. Mine were:

1 - What is your project about?

My project is about finding how I can use the physical and psychological effects of colour in combination with well considered interior design to create an office space which will promote well-being as well as productivity.

2 - Why did you decide to focus on this for your MA?

As friends start entering the world of work, and as it's an imminent part of my own life, I have come to realise that I will spend more time at work than at home in the future and I feel a feeling of dread when I see images or hear stories about places where most peoplework.

I want to make offices places that people look forward to coming to.

3 - Why colour?

I began by focusing on the effects of colour in my exploratory project because I realised what a strong effect colour had on me personally and I wanted to find out how universal this was and how "real" these effects were. I wanted to use colour as an active design tool rather than a passive decorative element as it so often is.

4 - How is your current focus different from during the exploratory project?

During the exploratory project I really focused on the physical and psychological effects of colour and tried to research this as much as possible in a general context without focusing on a particular environment. I will now research office design and work place theory and then later combine the two elements.

5 - Who were you inspired by?

I have been inspired by quite a few different designers while doing my research. One of these is a design practice called Camenzind Evolution who designed the offices for Google and Swiss Life in Zurich. (Link and Link)

Coloured booths

I was thinking back on an idea I had during the reflective project: adjustable colour films and inspired by these meeting booths: BBC Offices by ID:SR I imagined an idea which combined the two.
Meeting booths with controllable coloured film in the ceiling part so that the colour can be chosen and also a programme can be set to control the colour throughout the meeting, as I imagined here: Colour indicative meeting

Survey results so far

I've put the results so far into this diagram. I've had a good response and the answers have been interesting.

Atelier Bow Wow - House & Atelier

The use of split levels floors and landings within the circulation of this space create a gradient between the atelier on the bottom floors and the house on the top floors without creating a definite separation. It also allows light to penetrate right down to the ground floor.

Klein Dytham - TBWA and Hakuhodo Offices

This office for advertising companies TBWA and Hakuhodo creates peaceful meeting and relaxation spaces in between working areas. A thick grassy carpet and potted trees as well as the use of timber flooring brings a natural feel to the enclosed environment.

Because We Can Studio - Three Rings Office

Three Rings are a computer games design company. Their office is extremely bespoke and has a vaguely steam punk theme to it.

Clive Wilkinson Architects - Mother Office

The office for the advertising agency company Mother began with ideas being bounced around while the employees sat around a table. The new office caters for the larger size of the company by providing a table which seats 200.
The concrete table continues, turning into stairs, onto the third floor and provides a huge communal work space for employees.

Clive Wilkinson Architects - Pallotta Teamworks Headquarters

Pallotta Teamworks is a charity events company based in the US. Because they are a charity they wanted their headquarters to cost the minimum possible. Clive Wilkinson Architects used recycled shipping containers to create spaces within the warehouse.

Cocoon Development (Zurich) - Camenzind Evolution

I like how individual spaces in this project are separated by level rather than walls or screens. I think this is an interesting concept to have one continuous floor from ground to top with each work space or meeting area forming a small level of its own.

David McCandless Colour Wheel

David McCandless (author of the infographics book Information is Beautiful: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/the-visual-miscellaneum/) made this colour wheel to show different cultural associations with colour. Its very interesting to browse through and an excellent way of presenting these results.

ANZ Centre (Melbourne) - Hassell Studio

Another unusual workplace - this one seems quite homely to me which I would imagine helps to relax staff and create a comfortable and encouraging working environment.

More than colour

In reflection on my work from the exploratory stage I have realised that although colour is very important and can have the effects I have discussed, it is not enough to use colour alone, there must be other considerations in the design.

Comany ethos: the design of an office is often designed to project the brand of the company. A company like google can afford to have a highly unusual environment as they are a creative and very modern company. The problem will be that many more serious companies (banks and similar) may feel that a stimulating environment does not seem sensible and so they will not be taken seriously by clients - they would prefer to stick with very corporate (and often dull) design in order to maintain their reputation.
I will try to find more example of stimulating office spaces which are not for creative companies.

Layout: How spaces are arranged is extremely influential on users of the space. Particularly in a working environment it is important that people can easily access the spaces they need and that different types of spaces are provided for different uses (eg: to control levels of privacy, interaction/distraction).
I feel that it is important for there to be an area which is used for socialising and relaxation which is clearly separate from the work spaces.
This will depend on the type of company and how work is carried out.

Westpac Banking (Sydney) - DEGW

The objective of this design was to encourage intergration and communication. The large open stairwell centrally links all floors and there are 3 cafes to provide social areas as well as informal meeting areas.

BBC offices Salford - ID:SR

The new BBC office in salford uses a bold colour scheme as well as a variety of meeting booths which are are coloured internally to create individual meeting spaces within an open space.
I like the way employees can choose which coloured booth they would like to use - perhaps i could combine this idea with my research about reactive colour so that the colour of the booth changes colour as the meeting goes on to signify time passing or other factors.

Stained Glass

I was watching a documentary on the glass artist Brian Clarke who designs stained glass in an architectural way (he was once introduced by Cedric Price as "a person who colours in the holes that architects leave in their walls") and I thought I would look at some examples of stained glass.

Brian Clarke - Buxton thermal baths

This space is on the roof of a building but the atmosphere created through the colour and quality of light makes it feel as though it is under water.

Abin design studio - Imi Kolkata 

(I like how with this example the predominant colour of the room will change depending on the position of the sun - perhaps I could explore this idea)

Narcissus Quafliata - Kaohsi Ung Main Station

Although there are many colours all mixed together here, because of the large area which it covers there is still opportunity for creating different atmospheres in different areas.

Javier Senosiain - Nautilius House

This extremely organic structure uses smaller panes of glass - this reminds me of examples I have seen of bottles being re-used to make windows.

Macquarie Investment Bank, Sydney - Clive Wilkinson Architects

Using different shaped, coloured, and sized rooms for meetings and working means that the monotony of the workplace is avoided by experience of variation.

Interpolis Office Tilburg - Erik Veldhoen

This office space for Interpolis in Tilburg creates unique meeting rooms and work areas. After monitoring the work which went on in the company, Eric Veldhoen realised that less than a third of employees time was spent working at their individual desks. Therefore in this design there is only a very small area dedicated to private desk work (and for this reason the office only takes up half the space used by a similarly sized company) 
Members of staff are not allocated a particular space to work in but can choose which of the many and varied spaces would be most suitable for them to carry out their work.
There is a "clubhouse" area which consists of 10 unique meeting spaces, each designed by a different architect, which are flexible for different uses.
After this new design was put in place the company reported an increase in productivity by 20%.

Google Office Zurich - Camenzind Evolution

This office for Google in Zurich shows how an office space need not be serious and drab. Google is an extremely successful company - and perhaps keeping its staff happy and creative within working environments like this is a factor of its success.