Initial design concepts for Pwc's office space in Norwich
They desire a 'regional concept' with an idea that can be manipulated
and rolled out too various other office spaces, basically a flagship office.
An aspect of helping the community should also be considered.
The regional concept progresses from the chalk and tin mines upon
which Norwich was then built. The mines remain unmapped as the city was
not foreseen and thus the area is prone to sink holes. A famous image can be
seen of a bus sinking into one of these holes, this was used in Cadbury's advertisement
"nothing fills a hole like a double decker"
The tin and chalk forms fantastic fluid shapes and seams that can be used to
design aspects such as walls, layout and furniture (seen below) ideas for implementing the
kilns with rotating table arms (based on the plans/sections of the mining style can be seen ABOVE.
In terms of designing for the community I looked into previous pursuits of the company,
they have done work getting the homeless trained up in cooking and then back into
work through their experience in the financial field.
One of the favoured aspects from the previous office space was the kitchen which was seen as a social 'hub' for the staff. The concept of smell and taste triggered an idea; have deaf people manning the
kitchen. The office will be based around this idea of senses (sound, touch, smell, taste, sight)
smell and taste will be covered with the kitchen itself... the others need to be linked with the mining concept somehow.
Touchpoints of different textured rock from the local area (chalk, tin, pebbles from the beach) will be
embedded in the tables, walls and seating areas.
SOUND - it would be fantastic for the deaf to be able to understand sound interaction in the space visually, thus the idea of acoustic pyramids ABOVE. There will be simple hydraulics controlling the hight of these canopies, changing the acoustics of an area based on how loud it is. This helps the deaf understand the sound whilst improving the ambience for office staff too!
Experimenting with the idea of light and dark spaces, this follows the cave concept directly. Miners had difficulty adjusting to light contrast when exiting a cave. Dark was associated with work and light with freedom and leisure - this concept will be inverted by having the lobby area low and dark and office workspaces light. This gives people the sensation and association that work is linked with light and thus work with leisure.
