Blue Hive

The communications agency Blue Hive was created by merging teams from three separate agencies ­ each of which worked for the same client ­ into one unit. As an ideas-driven business, the space needed to be inspiring, and enable collaboration, so Spacelab created an open-plan office, centred round a communal work bench that seats 70, with a large ‘ideas wall’ nearby wall for brainstorming. There is also a mix of formal and informal meeting areas, with private, glazed rooms and more relaxed spaces that can be curtained off.

Being a new agency – especially one located in a large office building - it was also important that Blue Hive had its own identity, so we worked with it to differentiate the office from others, with a timber reception, a curved wall for the library, and flashes of bold colour.

Cedar

its about unlocking the potential of a site or building and transforming it to create new usage, functions and designs which are in tune with the client, organization and users its about unlocking the potential of a site or building and transforming it to create new usage, functions and designs which are in tune with the client, organization and users its about unlocking the potential of a site or building and transforming it to create new usage, functions and designs which are in tune with the client, organization and users

Bauer Media

Spacelab helped Bauer Media move from two buildings into one, creating a striking central atrium in the new home with meeting rooms that are stacked like sugar cubes. Each one has a border of coloured light, creating an illuminated patchwork that brings life to this open, central space.

The move reduced Bauer’s need for space from 6,200 sqm to 4,800 sqm, which cut overall property costs by 23 per cent. We did this with the help of a two-week occupancy study of the company, where we discovered that space was being used inefficiently. The solution was to allocate different sized desks for different jobs, depending on their needs.

COI

Spacelab refurbished a suite of meeting rooms for the Central Office of Information in London, creating a greater variety of spaces to better cater for the variety of visitors it was receiving. There are now six informal meeting booths, three larger formal meeting rooms, and four private meeting rooms, all fitted with identical audio-visual facilities. There is also space for informal gatherings in communal area outside the rooms. Sliding glass partitions maximise light and views between the rooms, and can be opened or closed to reconfigure the suite, allowing for larger boardroom-style meeting rooms and open-plan events and presentations, with seating for 150.

Link Insurance

We refurbished three floors of an existing building in just 10 weeks for Link and Zenith Insurance, which wanted to move from two buildings into one to create a more integrated workforce and culture. Key to achieving this was an open, fluid space, creating a sense of one company, rather than a set of compartmentalised teams. A catch-up area and glazed meeting rooms, which are adjacent to the main work space, blur the boundary between formal and informal zones, and a continuous red ceiling panel visually ties the large space together, bisecting the office and wrapping around the meeting rooms.

Emap Cap

On this project Spacelab have used four shades of grey and white to create both differentiation and continuity from the reception area right into the office space behind. A feature reception desk creates a dramatic focal point and works to highlight the CAP logo behind.

Two meeting suites opposite the reception area have been fully glazed on two sides to create a visual flow-through to the office space beyond, improving the entire space with a sense of integration and openness.

Emap PLC

As EMAP’s design partners, Spacelab helped create a stylish new space for their central London HQ. Ensuring a striking first impression with an iconic reception desk that curves upward to meet a lowered ceiling. This ceiling element runs throughout, housing air conditioning, lighting and data cables.

Flexibility is built into the design: the boardroom and meeting suites are divided by panels of African black walnut, which can be folded back to create one large open space with integrated audio/visual facilities for meetings and functions.

Synaptics

Spacelab's first project for a Software Development Company was a refurbishment of two floors of office space in a 1960's building in Coventry. With great views accross the city from the 9th and 10th floors the scheme orientates staff and visitors around the space via a continuous blue ribbon which acts as a ceiling in places, folds down to form walls, creates meeting rooms and defines spaces.

The reception area is defined and located on a raised floor and the views in this area are purposely blocked to create a more intimate space and allow the unveiling of the views of the city as you pass through the reception into other areas.

AWG Cotton Valley

This project was a conversion of a redundant 1960's labratory building in Milton Keynes for Anglian Water Group. The building was de-contaminated and stripped back to its original structure. 

A simple white modern insertion was then made to the middle of the space which contains offices, meeting rooms, WC's, cafe, etc allowing all services to be contained within this one element. New mechanical services were then installed and left exposed to capitalise on the large window positions and to create generous floor to ceiling heights.

Alpheus

Alpheus, a water treatment company and party of the AWG Group needed to update their 1960s home and house and expanding business. The main part of the brief was to make the building work more effectively, changing the way people move around and through it to create a more fluid work environment.

Spacelab broke down the dated configuration, freeing up the space with a steel-framed ‘channel’ that begins at the entrance and flows through the lobby, reception area and out into the external space outside. The effect is a series of separate spaces that are seamlessly connected.