The client, Savills Investment Management, wanted their space to feel fresh, informal, and inviting, and to break free from the commercial design approach. A key factor in achieving this was making the central feature of the social space a living, farm-plant wall into which UV growing lights were integrated to ensure the plants in the wall continued to thrive.

The living wall offers a unique connection to nature within an urban location, and SLLD aimed to augment this relaxed environment by using lighting to establish pockets of interest within it. We were able to turn the limited daylight to our advantage by creating a controlled environment that offers staff and visitors alike a warm, calming atmosphere, through the use of decorative lighting, balanced with architectural lighting, to produce layers of light at low, mid, and high levels.

The natural material finishes are indirectly highlighted by concealed lighting to the joinery and architecture. Lighting below the booths throws a soft glow on to the floor, and concealed lighting at the back of the booth seating highlights the warmth of the timber wall panels.

The service counter has a wash of light to the front to emphasise its curved form and coloured front. The gantry above the counter mirrors its shape, and is enhanced by the integration of linear LED to further define the curve, and cast light on to the counter top.

In contrast to the communal areas, the workspace areas are flooded with natural daylight, and in the collaboration space, we emphasised the exposed, black ceiling services by suspending black, acoustic-fabric pendants, with integrated lights, to play on the idea of a black void punctuated with dropped, petal-shaped pendants.

Overall, we were able to achieve lighting on a human scale, by creating a soft, ambient feel to an environment in which people are comfortable to both socialise and work.