LLC Color Expert-Storch LV is a world-wide known German painter tool manufacturer and subsidiary company of wholesaler Storch-Ciret Group. The company offers all the necessities for coloring works, except the colors themselves. The product assortment includes different appliances for painters (brushes, rollers etc.), as well as the essential accessories (painting adhesive tapes, paint trays, wallpaper knives, protective films etc.).
For their office, the company chose industrial spaces in a building which was previously used for manufacturing. A completely new planning of the spaces was conducted. In the beginning there was one large room with high ceiling, concrete flooring, brick walls and support columns in the middle. The task was not only to replan the space and its layout itself, but also to develop a solution for creating a communication engineering project and make sure it operates successfully.
Regarding the planning of the space, the client wished for a functional planning for the office space, so it fits the corporate work environment canon. The new planning included a separation, keeping in mind the work function hierarchy. This was not the case of the traditional open space planning, but independent, isolated rooms for the board of the company, as well as the other structural units. The employee count expected in each space, along with the function and role of each room was kept in mind while conducting the plan, too. Overall, the planning is classic – the office rooms are separated by glass partitions, the office tables are set out by the windows, and in the middle of the rooms, a wide hallway, at the end of which a kitchen and sanitary unit can be found.
White and gray were chosen as the main colors for the rooms, however, the somewhat standardized office environment was made more fun and interesting by integrating the four characteristic company tones – blue, yellow, red and green, – in the interior.
The color mix is wittingly used in the ceiling finish. The rooms have exceptionally high ceiling with concrete cover beams and communication engineering elements attached to the ceiling as well, therefore creating an overall heavy feel. To create a more aesthetically pleasing look, the ceiling of each room was colored in blue, yellow, red or green. For example, in the office of the marketing team the ceiling is green, whereas in the entrance zone of the office and central hallway it is blue. Additionally, to avoid visual chaos, the surfaces of the communication engineering elements were colored in the same tone as well. The coloring was conducted with a paint spray system, therefore forming soft gradients from the tone accents to white wall planes.
A navigation graphic is set out on the floor – beginning from the main entrance 6 navigation lines are laid out on the floor. Three blue and three white tones were used in the graphic, each line of it leading to a different office – to the board, the sales department, rest area, training zone, conference room or the logistics and marketing unit. This type of solution associated with a seemingly infinite line drawn by a brush or roller.
The decorative secretary counter certainly illustrates the work of the company well – a glass wall is created within the frontal plane of it, behind which the production offered by the company, meaning, the tools necessary for various coloring jobs, is set out. This serves as yet another colorful and attention-grabbing accent within the interior.
Both the client and the architects are satisfied by the collaboration. The golden mean between the world of bright colors and the corporate and businesslike office atmosphere was successfully found!
