Architect, Chris Romer-Lee, chats with us about about the MullenLowe global headquarters his studio designed.
What were your initial thoughts about this project?
That we were working on a small city. The agency required us to integrate 4 different brands, that all had a separate visual identity, in one building. The meeting rooms, café and reception were all shared spaces and became the public realm. From a corridor bench to a flexible café space or ‘piazza’ for all agency meetings.
The range of colours in the BAUX collection gave us a really exciting opportunity to vary the “inbetween” break out areas.
Why did you choose BAUX for the space?
BAUX was important because we wanted the space between meeting rooms to be break out areas. It’s often the space between buildings that provides some of the most engaging urban conditions in a city; we wanted to create something similar throughout the building.
The lighting was playful and external in aesthetic, which further emphasized the red, green and blue BAUX panels.
How did colour transform the space?
We used Diagonal Wood Wool Panels on the back wall because the texture and pattern in the natural finish looked great against the logo made of red neon. Black 3D Pixels were put on the ceiling, which can usually be the most boring part of many clubs. This pixel design transformed the ceiling into a feature that played an important role in the overall design for the interior.
3D pixel design gives the space a little more of a “clubbing vibe” helping to bridge the gap between our client’s daytime & nighttime operation.
To enable these spaces to be open to the ‘public realm’ they needed to be quiet, so we lined them with BAUX Acoustic Panels. The panels were also used in the post production suites where a quiet and relatively dark space was key to the technical success of these spaces.
How did you go about choosing the right pattern for the project?
Ultimately, the pattern had to be right for the overall design. We knew that within the BAUX product range we could find the most suited match, as we have successfully used BAUX products many times before.
How did you go about choosing the right pattern for the project?
We used colour to subtly delineate between the different organisations coming together within the building. The range of colours in the BAUX collection gave us a really exciting opportunity to vary the “inbetween” break out areas. As both spaces were also visible from the street the colours glow through the elevation in the winter afternoons or evenings. The lighting was playful and external in aesthetic, which further emphasized the red and blue BAUX tiles. Within the technical suites we moved from blue through to green. More subtle changes but each with its own colour and therefore identifiable from each other.
Within the technical suites we moved from blue through to green. More subtle changes but each with its own colour and therefore identifiable from each other.
What is the importance of a well-designed acoustic environment?
In this office space it was important for the in-between break out spaces to be open to the corridor and workspaces to ensure that they were used for short meetings. The client stated that meeting rooms in their previous office were often occupied for hours even days, which meant less and less space available for a quick chat. There is a noticeable quieter environment when you enter the BAUX-lined in-between spaces. Noise created in these spaces is contained rather than spilling out across the work floor or into the adjacent meeting spaces.
It’s often the space between buildings that provides some of the most engaging urban conditions in a city; we wanted to create something similar throughout the building.
What would a dream BAUX project look like?
An architect / artist collaboration where the BAUX is the canvas. Walls and ceilings fold and wrap to create a landscape of spaces, a vast canvas for colour and light to play across.
Learn more about MullenLowe created by Chris Romer-Lee, or visit our project references for other BAUX acoustic interior design projects.
First published on www.baux.se