Crown House: A Plug and Play Ground Floor Office

Yellow designed this prestigious, 4-storey office building in the London Road area of Southampton. The owners decided to undergo a full overhaul of the building with contractors, Orion. The ground floor of Crown House is the smaller of the spaces, providing accommodation for 8-10 employees with a generous breakout area. It had been divided into distinct office areas with stud walling. This had suited the purpose of the outgoing tenant but was proving off-putting for potential new occupants.

Architectural Features

Anonymous offices often benefit from a bit of character building! We had been presented with a white box, ceiling tiles and grey carpet throughout. As a ground floor property in a city centre location it lacked an abundance of natural light. We therefore opened up the space and replaced stud walls with glass partitions. The choice of black metalwork and reeded glass creates a timeless, retro feel.

Simply adding brick slips from the Brick Tile Company created a sense of permanency and personality.

Rethinking Awkward Spaces

Most buildings have their problem spaces. The previous tenants at Crown House had installed an additional tea point in this awkward cupboard space. With no windows our options were limited for its future use. We realised that by opening up the office as a whole there was little opportunity for private calls or just a little alone time.

We christened this odd triangular space the ‘Zoom Room’. It is walled with acoustic panelling with an additional ceiling raft for optimal quiet. Tenant’s can install a slimline monitor so that anyone can book the space for sensitive meetings, or functions of modern life including doctor’s consultations or training sessions. The client and letting agent were very pleased with the transformation and felt that it really added to the attractiveness of the property. From awkward to asset!

Plants Make a Place

We worked closely with Stewarts to produce the perfect planting plan, introducing statement plants that thrive in low light. There is evidence that the presence of plants in the workplace positively impacts mood and stress levels. They have become a normal part of our office schemes. We always work with suppliers to ensure the suitability of the plant and the ongoing maintenance. At Crown House the plants provided both much-needed connection to nature and additional privacy screening.

Best-in-class flooring

We specified Osaka Sesame carpet tiles from Burmatex, a British company who make one of the most sustainable contract carpet products on the market. Osaka brings a warmth to the ubiquitous grey carpet tile and blended well with the practical and durable Forbo vinyl tile in the breakout area and the refined Versailles panels in the meeting room, supplied by Plus Floor.

Balancing Bespoke with Pre-owned furniture

Once again we managed to utilise pre-owned furniture. We sourced all of the task furniture – chairs, desks & pedestals plus a fantastic credenza for the meeting room, from second hand suppliers. We sourced these Hermann Miller chairs from King’s Office Furniture for a fraction of the retail price and after a quick vacuum they were immaculate. This allowed us to choose high quality design-led pieces for the meeting room, break out room and reception area.

Carefully Curating Crown House

Working with Space Contract Furniture we created a coherent collection of bespoke furniture for the reception, meeting room and break out spaces. We chose a number of fire retardant contract upholstery fabrics made from 100% recycled polyester from Skopos and Sunbury.

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Fabulous Feature Lighting & Embedding Acoustics

Interior designers spend a lot time drawing the eye away from ugly office ceilings. Ceiling tiles are practical, functional and drain the soul. Any major alterations to the ceiling were out of the question at Crown House.

In the meeting room and break out room we opted for ‘wood’ printed acoustic rafters supplied by Allsfar, interspersed with feature lighting from Industville. The travertine pendants in the meeting room are particularly elegant and add a luxury element to an industrial aesthetic.