Material Moods: Community.

At this year’s BCO Conference, a theme was prevalent throughout. One which we feel mirrors a sentiment shared across the entire built environment sector more generally, up and down the UK. Community – “it’s all about the people.”

“The people” in this sense sit within two groups. One: architects, interior designers and all the consultant professionals they work with on a day-to-day basis; collaboration being the crucial factor in allowing the built environment to meet its many complex goals – from sustainability to inclusivity to safety.

And two: the end users that spaces are being designed for, all with exacting and differing needs that require supportive settings allowing them to be the best versions of themselves, whether at work, in education, at rest or play. But also desiring human connection, and for the spaces they inhabit to facilitate this seamlessly.

Inspired by this, for the latest instalment of our Material Moods series, we put the spotlight on Community, inviting 6 architects and interior designers from: BDP; Keppie; Bennetts Associates; INCH; c2:concepts; CRGP, to join us at our Glasgow Studio along with an industry guest of their choice, from: Robertson; Turner & Townsend; Bellrock; Cundall; Race Against Dementia; Atelier Ten - all part of the specification ecosystem, though viewing it through a specialist lens. Whether that's carbon consulting, inclusive design expertise or as a contractor. The group were invited to craft individual moodboard concepts for zones as part of an overarching, cohesive workplace scheme to promote Community; the coming together of people.

The teams set to work exploring the Partner PODs in our newly refitted Studio space, taking time to chat to experts from each brand – another key part of the built environment ecosystem – to make informed material and product specification choices.

What material choices facilitate connection? Are there certain colours, or certain textures that connect us? What role does design play in creating spaces that allow for Community to take hold and flourish? Read on for our teams' interpretations of the brief, and see the collaborative, creative outputs they produced, illustrating perfectly the role that Community plays in our world. Perhaps now, more than ever before.

Lorna Bryden, Senior Interior Designer, BDP & Alan Bryden, Regional Quality Control Manager, Robertson

Zone: Arrival & Circulation

Lorna described her pair’s moodboard as evocative of a Glaswegian “wally close,” entryways, for the uninitiated, to the city’s tenement buildings, where community lies at the heart.

Two tiles from Parkside’s Esmaltes range spoke to this era of homely, localised interior design. This pair rejected drab colours, sometimes the lot of Glasgow’s interiors, Lorna and Alan said, and too often simplified as an extension of our building stock’s characteristically steely facades. Muraspec wallpaper in Burnish proved the perfect circuit breaker, evoking warmth and vibrancy in its winking reinterpretation of an industrial metallic palette.

Also considered in the making of an inviting arrival space were two of CDUK’s materials, chosen to complement Russwood’s European larch flooring in Soft White. PaperStone, seen here in Cabernet and Honey, is a durable composite of recycled paper and natural resin. Crucially, it is warm to the touch, lending a tactile relaxedness to users of Lorna and Alan’s space.

Corian cropped up both as a sample in Travertine Firenza, part of the newly-launched ‘Nature in Motion’ range, and as a worked product from CDUK’s M|R Walls collection, in the style Origami. Guaranteeing no-seam designs, M|R Walls products exemplify the virtually limitless possibilities of how Corian can be moulded and CNC-cut. With their undulating textures, all finishes from this range can be backlit to personalise and add new visual dimension to any “wally close”-inspired space.

Heather Macsween, Associate, Keppie & Emma Flaherty, Project Manager, Turner & Townsend

Zone: Support & Amenities

Heather and Emma set out to create “the best toilets ever.” Also keen to evoke Glasgow’s historic built environment – “red sandstone” was a key reference, and thoughtfully-chosen surface materials proved crucial to pulling this off. Warmth and texture, they noted, can be “sometimes missing” from commercial projects, as can proper consideration of the role amenities play in supporting a workplace community’s wellbeing.

To complement various Parkside samples, including textured tiles from their high-recycled-content Luca and design-driven Earthen ranges, InterplanLam-art’s premium solid surface sample in Siena featured for its marbled finish, as well as its durability and exceptional design versatility.

InterplanLam-art now offers full washroom fit-outs in Scotland, from initial specification to installation, and the Sylvan sample chosen by Heather and Emma exemplifies this process. They built their moodboard concept around bamboo, foregrounding it as an impressive alternative to typical washroom materials on account of its renewability and distinctively natural look. This worked harmoniously with Parkside’s rich raspberries and reds - Agra in Burgundy and BOW by MUT in Bordeaux.

Tying everything together was Muraspec’s Misted Forest mural, a backdrop that is as much a community talking point as it is invitation to private contemplation. Anyone seeking five minutes’ refuge away from the office floor is welcome here.

Karla Duncan, Architect, Bennetts Associates & Jana Bartschova, Associate Director, Bellrock & Lucia Savastano, Principal Sustainability Engineer, Cundall

Zone: Work & Focus

To cater to the full spectrum of ways people want to work, Karla, Jana and Lucia designed pods, hot desks and a workshop – areas, once chosen, that employees feel drawn to settle into and comfortably, lengthily inhabit.

Mohara fabric by ILIV and a Tessera carpet tile by Forbo in “very natural colours” captured the feel of “a tranquil space.” A sample from Autex’s new Emma Hayes collection picked up this visual thread, while working to keep noise from the office floor out.

For all-purpose desk space, another Emma Hayes Autex design was brought in as a divider. Screen-printed onto Autex’s Cube material, this collection boasts the best of Autex’s sustainability and design practices. And Crown paint samples in Belgrave Mill and Regency 4 kept softness and warmth at the sensory fore.

Our trio referenced nature as the ultimate facilitator of community, so for their workshop they spotlit one of Russwood’s Architect Select larch cladding samples, opting for a brushed finish to accentuate the wood’s natural grain. This works for an environment where people come together to play and make, and easy clean-up at the end of the day is guaranteed with their choice of Forbo’s Marmoleum flooring, the colour Meringue chosen from its Cocoa Range.

Lynsey Hutchinson, Senior Interior Designer, INCH Interiors & Gayle Henry, Director of Care Operations, The Office of Sir Jackie Stewart OBE

Zone: Wellbeing & Rest

Bringing ample experience of designing for health and wellbeing, Lynsey and Gayle focused on indoor lounge and outdoor terrace space.

These areas weren’t treated separately. Rather, one flows into the next, not just for the biophilic potential this design choice offers, but for the sense it makes for users of the space who have dementia, are neurodiverse, or are otherwise affected by high contrast visuals. Russwood oak flooring in Honey was chosen, alongside its Thermopine decking, as both options have a similar light reflectance value. Together these materials work as an organic transition from inside to outside, and vice versa.

Six waterproof fabrics by ILIV were chosen for their practicality and subtly contrasting colours, including a sample from the new faux-leather Tofino range. Our pair spoke about the need for different types of seating in both areas, to cater for a range of mobilities, and their fabric choices were equally versatile, with textures and finishes that work outside as well as in prioritised.

Finally, Crown’s Belgrave Mill – a popular choice! – acted as the perfect backdrop for what Lynsey and Gayle referred to as a stimulating “variety” of textures, ranging from the compressed PET of Autex’s Cube acoustic panelling to the soft chenille of ILIV’s Elutor range.

Zoe Phillips, Interior Designer, c2:concepts & Sam Patterson, Embodied Carbon Assessor, Atelier Ten

Zone: Social & Community

Zoe and Sam challenged a contradiction often felt by designers of high-end, high-performing offices: the pursuit of a “wow factor” can muddy the mission to make these spaces feel “safe and welcoming.” They considered the experience of visitors as well as employees, and settled on rich, earthy paint – Crown’s Ruby Chocolate and Forest Vista – to establish a welcoming mood.

Patterns were key to inviting chatter and connection. “We’re not just stationary,” noted Zoe; in groups, we’re constantly moving and talking, and dynamic fabrics like ILIV’s Aludel range, here in the colour Juniper, support and mirror this behaviour.

Sam chose samples for their embodied carbon potential, leading with a punchy example of CDUK’s Polygood surface material. Combining rich plums and reds with flecks of white, this is a material that proves good design can emerge because, not in spite of reuse – the block you’re seeing was once a plastic pipe.

Reuse was highlighted elsewhere in the form of Forbo’s Cocoa Range, which incorporates discarded cocoa husks into the brand’s classic Marmoleum formulation. There is no better function for this kind of flooring than what this pair described as a “kind of tea prep” area, where people might congregate, eat and drink on a surface that is easy to clean, and forgiving in its speckly appearance.

For gatherings proper, Russwood’s oak flooring in the shade ’90 worked for an event space. This product is available in a 6mm thickness, allowing for resurfacing at the twenty-year mark, so builds from the ground up a space that ages alongside the organisation it houses, supporting the long-term development of a workplace community.

Kirsten Davis, Sustainability and Impact Lead, CRGP & Carys Dunn, Part II Architectural Assistant, CRGP

Zone: Work & Focus

Kirsten and Carys selected products for one collaborative area and one smaller meeting room. For the former, flooring textures were mixed to support the high-traffic reality of a communal workspace, with Russwood’s oak flooring in Cask placed alongside Forbo’s Tessera carpet tiles in shades Pickled Spice and Honey Haven.

Our pair used Crown’s new Co palette as a “launch point,” gravitating towards those neutral-yet-rich shades seen elsewhere: Belgrave Mill, Forest Vista and Regency 4. For a feature wall, they chose Muraspec’s Tissera, a covering whose structural design lends it a playful, rippling effect.

This material, Kirsten noted, will last a few refurbishment cycles, so was an obvious choice to guarantee longevity. So too was CDUK’s Polygood, seen here as a light, flecked sample originated from refrigerators. Both have distinctive textures that work to “visually guide” users through the space and provide long-term sensory interest.

For a smaller meeting room, CDUK‘s PaperStone in Siena was chosen for its “wood effect,” and paired with Autex’s Verve sample in the structural style Ridge. Dappled browns and greens blurred for a comfortable, natural effect, with accent fabrics by ILIV, including in the colour Puerto Forest from its PlanetMark-certified range. Darker, richer, a tad more sophisticated than the collaborative space, the vision for this meeting room nevertheless tied in with this pair’s governing idea: a warm, natural, multi-functional workspace, one that works dynamically to support the daily stream of people moving into, around and out of it.

Though all the interpretations of Community were distinctly different, common themes featured throughout: Nature-connected; Belonging; Inclusivity; Sustainability; Durability; Locality – facilitated through colour, texture and finish. Through the literal bringing together of community, and cross-industry collaboration, a cohesive concept was the final result – a visual example of what working together can create.

A huge thank you to all who joined us for what was a joyfully uplifting day celebrating the true meaning of Community.