Commercial
Kenton, 2021
986 m² / 1,0613 ft²
We undertook a complete office and community space fit-out for Maccabi GB, an Anglo-Jewish sporting charity, with over 80 years commitment to promoting health, wellbeing and community through sports and education.
A charmless, 1970s concrete and brick, two-storey building with a gymnasium on the first floor, has been converted into a colourful and bright space whilst using the existing industrial qualities throughout.
The main office is a big, 30-desk space, but through simple use of paint colour, good lighting and thoughtful design and layout of desk furniture – bespoke joinery, built to our specifications – we brought clarity and coherence. The same colour palette and attention to detail extends to the small, bright, multi-purpose kitchenette.
To welcome the community in, this needed to be more than just an office fit-out. We used paint colour to express either function or identity. We used orange on the doors of meeting and social spaces.
A strong blue, taken from their logo, is used in bold swathes, with the logo’s paler blue as contrast or highlight colour. Concrete ceilings throughout are exposed but with co-ordinated services.
Material interventions are few but strategic: a full height curtain against the back wall of the boardroom to soften both feel and acoustic.
The project grew from an invitation to help secure a tricky planning permission for office and community space on the ground floor. Having established a good rapport, the client then invited us to design the entire scheme, covering all aspects from co-ordination of services to signage and furniture selection.
An exposed brick wall brings a contemporary, recreational/cafe touch to a seating area, while a glossy, painted blue wall flags up the main logo colour in the entrance lobby, where the charity meets its community.
We worked closely with the client to approve every evolution and edition, collaborating with the contractor to achieve the utmost quality as well as the required economies, while bringing character and identity to a building that previously had none.
