Working in collaboration with Arup Architecture, Inspired Surfaces were tasked with creating an innovative, contemporary, performance driven solution for highly used areas in the workspace, the boardroom, and communal walkway. Both areas of refurbishment required freshening up, making the best use of the space practically whilst creating an inclusive and enjoyable environment for employees to collaborate whilst working on ground-breaking building and infrastructure projects.

Our material of choice was SanFoot® Real Wood Veneer for architecturally inspired interiors. Its natural beauty combined with its hard-wearing finish makes it suitable for the high traffic office space areas that need to be refurbished. The versatility of the material enabled it to be incorporated in a number of elements of the design, not just being applied to the wall but for wrapping around a bespoke bookcase and creating contrasting batons applied to the SanFoot® finished surface to add depth, texture and to create a design feature in the space.

For areas of the communal walkway, we installed Traffic|Wall, an architectural wall lining system. Designed for the demands of high traffic public spaces requiring a robust, interior wall cladding solution. Applying SanFoot® directly to Traffic|Wall enabled us to make a practical element add
warmth and beauty helping to create an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere in the workspace.

Unique to this project was hidden storage space incorporated into the communal walkway alongside
Traffic|Wall. The storage space was easily accessible using Salice sliding runners, a sliding door mechanism. The fluent and silent movement of this storage system along with the continuation of the same SanFoot® application on the sliding doors as the Traffic|Wall enabled the storage to be discreet yet still a design feature.

We used two complimentary species of SanFoot® as part of the design, White Oak Rift Cut (7042) and American Walnut Quarter Cut (7064). It has been proven that using natural real wood veneer within indoor spaces has a significant positive impact on people’s health and well-being which is important in a working environment, and in this respect, SanFoot’s range of natural veneers supports the material of choice when incorporating the biophilic interior design trend, an integral part of the design for Arup Architecture.

By incorporating SanFoot® Real Wood Veneer, Traffic|Wall Architectural Wall Lining System, and Salice Sliding System, Inspired Surfaces were able to create an innovative, contemporary, performance driven solution. The materials have the suitability for the highly used impactful areas and were able to best utilise the space available whilst creating visually appealing design features for all employees to enjoy and experience in their working environment. Keeping in line with Arup Architecture’s ethos of ‘Total Architecture’, shaping a better world through buildings, places, and spaces for people to experience and enjoy every day.