PHOTOS: MARTINA FERRERA
53
Opinion
John McRae, director, Orms
Left and below Warm colours and extensive use of pine joinery create a domestic feel at Orms’ own ofice
WE HAVE SEEN a change. Te thing that comes up the most is the greater variety of space provided. Other spaces beyond desks are becoming far more important with different degrees of privacy, such as quiet rooms, study spaces, meeting areas, tech- enabled spaces and events areas. We’re encouraging clients to think that new offices aren’t necessarily an opportunity to reduce the quantum of space. It’s more about how wisely they use their workplace so that they have the right variety of spaces for their business. Tis might mean adding to it. Te whole working week has become more structured than it’s ever been, and there’s more emphasis on making the time spent in the office worthwhile – for example, for learning and team collaboration. Our own office is now more programmed, so that everyone knows when things are happening.
Te other big thing we’ve seen is that acoustics have become incredibly important, perhaps as a result of having had our own working spaces at home during the pandemic and noticing how different that is to being in the office. We considered acoustics really carefully when we designed our own studio. Te inherited air-conditioning was way too noisy so we replaced it with one with a lower background noise and added further acoustic absorbency in the ceiling. As a result, conversation levels are lower and we have a much calmer environment, which is also helpful from a neurodiversity perspective. Pre-pandemic, it was very unusual to talk about neurodiversity but that’s no longer the case. I’m intrigued to see what impact the growing awareness of neurodiversity will have
as we better understand the role of lighting and materials and colour choice on our senses. Ultimately, we want to encourage people to be in the office, so it’s important to get the feel right. We’ve gone past the idea of generic lighting throughout and instead treat lighting in a more human-centric way. In our office, we worked with lighting designer Mark Hensman of EQ2 Light from Day 1, with warmer light at the peripheries and individual controls at the desks.
Wellness and biophilia are included a lot more in briefs, and on the planning side, the Urban Greening Factor is mentioned increasingly. We’re seeing more planting on terraces and more greening inside. Both are good additions to office design. Plants certainly help with the softening of rooms and betterment of air quality, but we’re not looking to create an orangery. I am less convinced by large, artificially lit internal green walls. Well-being is very hard to articulate in design terms. We’ve looked at everything from
Project – Orms ofice, 160 Old Street, London
Orms’ new offices have proved something of a testbed for the practice’s ideas on the workplace. Te 115-strong practice is located on the sixth floor of 160 Old Street, a building it extended and refurbished for GPE. Everyone has their own desk as well as a choice of other workplace settings, including enclosed or semi-enclosed individual nooks and larger rooms for group working. Flexibility is a key driver, with the walls of the 24-person meeting room opening up onto the adjacent café area to create a larger gathering and events space. Tis ‘town hall’ area has additional seating concealed in mobile bleachers. Te reception doubles as an informal meeting area.
Warm colours (no white) and extensive use of Californian pine joinery by Tekne create a domestic feel. Desks and tables are by Very Good & Proper. Where possible, furniture can be disassembled, including the library wall of display and storage flanking the route to the reception desk.
lighting to acoustics. One of our staff members had a back problem and needed to use a mobile desk, but no longer needs it in our new office. We think it must be linked to the variety of seating options this offers.
We want to continue to push boundaries, and encourage clients, even for Cat A shell and core, to think about how to embed some of this thinking around flexibility of space, lighting and re-use.
orms.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101
