A striking reception desk that provides a welcome for flexible workspace users.
Clockwise Wood Green provides contemporary private offices, workspaces and meeting rooms for locals looking for a professional work area but don’t want a formal office.
The original 1980s building was refurbished during lockdown, with the flexible workspace concept becoming ever more relevant. With more people working away from their main office and the increase in flexible working, there is a growing requirement for a quiet space and practical work area not always found at home.
The fit out for the five floor, 32,000 sq ft space was carried out by Portview. The overall project features two rooftop terraces, event spaces, breakout areas and kitchenettes. Interior design was down to Hawkins Brown who tackled the stark building by introducing a ‘green route’ running from the entrance, with a garden trellis frame rising up through the atrium, to the roof terrace with its views of the green surrounds including Alexandra Park. Reflecting this, Diespeker provided the eye catching green-based terrazzo TE107 for the kitchen areas, including countertops and seating island.
However, the most challenging element for the Diespeker team was the reception desk at the entrance, the part of any building that creates the first impression for users and visitors. Nothing says more about a business than first impressions and this desk certainly fits the bill, with its contemporary curved, four tiered design including LED lighting on two of the tiers to give a warm welcome to users and visitors.
Manufacturing the desk presented a double challenge to the team. Not only were there four separate tiers, but the design featured a curve. It was created using resin terrazzo with two tiers formed from neutral terrazzo TE001 and the other two using TE004 with warm pink tones. Bespoke specialist Andy Brady was responsible for the skilled curving of the terrazzo, harking back to our first experience of bending it like Beckham, with similar expertise, precision and attention to detail.
The tiers were made one at a time over four days, with Andy having to judge exactly when to remove each tier from the mould. If too hard, the terrazzo would crack; if too soft it would tear. So on each of the four days, one tier was laid last thing in the afternoon and left overnight. It was then taken out of the mould first thing in the morning, sawed to size and milled to expose the chippings before being moved to the bespoke workshop and put carefully on the curved carcass so it could set to the required bend. The work was proficiently judged and each of the four tiers was successful first time round.
Due to the size of the desk each of the tiers were jointed in the centre. These joints were around 10mm and each one was filled with terrazzo and ground to become almost invisible.
The sections were delivered to Clockwise Wood Green in four pieces and assembled in situ by our installation team.
The desk including manufacture and installation took around 10 days in total, and the result is a stunning addition to the reception area of this impressive office refurbishment. Our skill with bending resin terrazzo has a new tag to reflect the talent of our bespoke terrazzo maestro and is now referred to as “Bend it like Brady”.
Professional images by Damian Griffiths
