A glimpse inside COAL HOUSE, which launched this Summer. An inspiring and progressive workspace in the heart of Cardiff, from developer Create. It’s undergone a stylish industrial-chic refurbishment to give sustainability-conscious businesses the opportunity to thrive in an ultra-green environment, with all the perks.
Our branding brief was to work up the visual brand identity, graphic language and to design a stylish website for prospective tenants.
Central to the creative work was to give the development’s branding an urban sustainable heart, making sure all of the key eco-benefits of the new workspace were prominent on the website and messaging.
For the brand palette, we used a stylish charcoal and green mix, to appeal to the environmentally conscience target demographic.
We designed an urban deco graphic language for illustrations within the brand world, loosely based on the building’s architectural fenestrations, animating a series of these patterns for the website, which were also used on interior architecture details. The website is interactive, with an unusual side scroll, full of motion graphics and video, bringing the project to life for prospective tenants.
In terms of the building’s physical transformation, Coal House has a dramatic new dark façade, softened with lush planting and atmospheric lighting diffused behind the warmth of corten architectural cladding. The new reception lobby is signposted by an illuminated canopy and hero signage beckoning to the airy atrium space within, styled by our interiors team.
“The workspace sector has been constantly evolving since the pandemic, real estate developers need to go above and beyond to attract tenants. Create’s vision and ethos to contribute economic, social, and environmental value shines through their buildings.
We like to approach workspace design and branding with the same creative principles we use to approach hospitality design. Fashioning an environment which kick-starts people’s day with a smile; going beyond the stylish look and feel, filling the space with artistic, discreet brand touches, wrapped up in a super welcoming, inspiring tone of voice and creative signage which might be integrated into a custom light fitting or neon sign art piece rather than a standard ‘sign’. Somewhere to enjoy making that amazing first coffee of the day or to catch up with colleagues for an informal breakfast chat before the day begins.”
Chris Trotman — Run For The Hills Creative Director
The interior design brief was to create a showstopping lounge-style atrium space in Coal House. To infuse the design scheme with eco-stylish touches and an urban twist, but first and foremost to create a warm and inviting, buzzy shared lobby which workers and guests would love to use.
A world away from office receptions of the past, the new Coal House entrance lounge is an inspiring shared space for tenants and clients to meet, socialise and collaborate. Featuring a help-yourself coffee bar, café seating, comfortable lounge areas, Zoom Rooms and bookable meeting space. Using biophilic design principles, the eco-friendly design maximises the sense of light, using a natural materials palette of timbers, organic, tones-from-nature paint shades and textured ceramics, accented by tailored dark metals, refined concrete style flooring and brass-accent decorative lighting. The lobby lounge feels fresh, crisp and modern, but softened by injections of botanicals and colourful art, giving an informal, stay-for-a-while hospitality feel.
