The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) from the University of London was looking to refurbish their social and office spaces with updated designs reflective of the organisation's diverse student body. Interior architects office Story Design was consulted to draw up the interior plans, using Forbo's Marmoleum and Tessera floor coverings to help elevate the space.
As part of a refurbishment to the group’s existing spaces, Simon Kenton, Creative Director at Story Design, said: “I was approached by SOAS to help them revamp one of their buildings, and granted relatively free rein to be creative with my colour and design choices.
“I was very keen on representing all the varied student cultures within the school, so I chose a colour palette that incorporated bright and colourful shades. We also had the idea of creating an abstract globe design within the reception area, which reinforced the idea of its students being from across the world and helped to add a real focal point to the area. This was accompanied by a wall graphic detailing the history of SOAS.”
To create this globe design, Forbo’s precise Aquajet cutting service was utilised by Simon, with a bespoke flooring design created. Simon explained: “As we wanted the globe design to be on the floor itself, I chose Forbo’s Marmoleum Cocoa and had it created using the manufacturer’s water cutting technology. This ended up being very effective and the design and install phases were really easy, ensuring a smooth transition overall.”
Marmoleum Cocoa was specified for the majority of the flooring space. Simon commented: “I really liked the look of Forbo’s Marmoleum Cocoa, with the cocoa shells in the flooring adding a unique touch to the product, as well as it being a sustainable and durable solution. The Meringue colourway was chosen for the main lobby and corridors - a very minimal and contemporary design, from which I could then build upon with other fixtures in the rooms. The Milk Chocolate colourway was installed across the reception area and into the adjoining corridor.
“From here, I added some other accents using Marmoleum Walton in the Terracotta and Rosemary Green designs. I had these cut into a circle pattern in the centre of the common room, helping to create a nice eye-catching centre for the room.”
As well as its attractive designs, Marmoleum’s sustainability credentials were a key reason for its specification, with Simon saying: “Sustainability was extremely important to SOAS and myself, with Marmoleum one of my go-to solutions for this exact reason. It’s made using up to 98% natural raw materials and contains 43% recycled content by mass. Not only this, but its independently certified as Climate Positive (carbon negative) from cradle to gate, without offsetting, meaning every square metre of Marmoleum installed removes 663 grams of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Additionally, the Marmoleum Cocoa solution contains cocoa husks, upcycled from the chocolate industry – a further environmental saving.”
Forbo’s Tessera Struktur 1 carpet tile collection was also installed on the project, used across the office spaces in the Mossa, Flamma, Bla and Rosa colourways. Simon commented: “I really like Forbo’s Tessera carpet tiles as they’re robust and durable, with the Tessera Struktur 1 range available in a range of complimentary colours to the Marmoleum I’d specified. Given the application, I knew I needed a hard-wearing solution and this range being a microtuft pile tile made it ideal.”
| Interior Architect | Story Design |
| Location | London, UK |
