FORBO TOWERS ABOVE LONDON
The interior design of an office is crucial to get right as it not only has a direct effect on workers’ creativity, but it also forms the face of the company. This was certainly true for one of the leading data solutions companies Qlik, who’s dynamic and energetic team required an office that reflected these characteristics, whilst inspiring and motivating its employees. Tower 42 in London was the chosen venue for the new offices, with a selection of distinctive carpet and vinyl tiles specified from Forbo Flooring Systems that perfectly suited the brief and helped the project to be ‘Commended’ in the 2015 Fly Forbo competition.
Colours, texture, simplicity in design as well as a seamless functionality all have a part to play in this interior design scheme, which completely sets it apart from the surrounding financial companies in the magnificent Tower 42 building. Mark Crick, Design Director of Crisp Designed Ltd, the appointed design and build company on the project explains: “The client wanted an interior that was different, yet professionally welcoming to their clients, so we came up with several bright and zany designs. The project had a strict budget and project deadlines for delivery, so it was important to use a reliable and efficient flooring manufacturer. Having worked a lot with Forbo Flooring Systems we knew this was a project that would suit their comprehensive portfolio. In particular, using Forbo allowed us to integrate the requested corporate branding and specify bespoke colour options.”
Tessera Alignment is a sophisticated and cleverly textured cut and loop carpet tile designed to complement the most contemporary commercial interiors. The multi-height loops give this distinctive floor covering a bold directional theme, which is tempered by the introduction of intersecting random blocks of rich cut pile. Here, the popular nucleus colour was specified forming the backdrop for the main body of the floor space and was peppered with a perfectly co-ordinated carpet tile featuring a daring accent colour: Alignment Highlight in a vivid green shade.
Feature areas were also emphasized with the luxury Westbond carpet tiles that were designed into the boardroom, telephone booths and cafe breakout area. Organic curves and fluid wavy lines were cut into the floor space in bright lime green, jet black and anthracite to mirror the curvilinear furniture, which was all designed to contrast with the angular shaped building.
Texture was cleverly incorporated into the overall design and the fusion bonded Westbond carpet tiles in particular provided an extremely dense and luxurious product as the individual yarn pile is bonded onto the backing material. The thick and plush nature of the tiles also helps to maintain excellent acoustic levels. In contrast to this rich surface, the intriguing Allura spring forest stripe luxury vinyl tile was used within the two tea stations as it perfectly replicated Qlik’s brand colours and provides a durable resilient surface, easy to clean and maintain.
“Forbo hit the mark for us in terms of an unlimited range of suitable products from one supplier, the option of combining different colourways into bespoke designs and the highly efficient service and delivery. This was a challenging brief in terms of balancing the vibrant and dynamic vision with the budget, but Forbo’s options allowed us to exceed,” comments Mark.
