Drawing Board
Eden at New Bailey Manchester, UK
Eden will be one of the UK’s most environmentally friendly office buildings when it opens in Spring 2023. Developed by The English Cities Fund (ECF) – a strategic partnership between master developer Muse, Legal & General and Homes England, the government’s housing and regeneration agency, Eden forms part of ECF’s £1bn, 50-acre Salford Central regeneration. The building – designed by Make Architects – will incorporate high-efficiency air source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels to generate onsite electricity, while its façade is set to become Europe’s largest green wall, entirely fed by harvested rainwater. The 12-storey, 115,000sqft office development is – unsurprisingly – aimed at ‘businesses who are serious about protecting the planet.’ When offered the opportunity to design an interior scheme for Eden, Manchester-based interior designers SpaceInvader jumped at the chance, using the practice’s extensive knowledge of designing sustainably to help push boundaries further in order to match the building’s groundbreaking achievements. The result will be a bustling social hub that reaches out to the local community and has a specific focus on wellness, while featuring a selection of reclaimed, low VOC and carbon-conscious materials. “It was imperative to view the interior spaces as a cohesive offer,” SpaceInvader Founder John Williams commented. “The amenity designs needed to create a social flow that would embody the needs of both the local community and prospective tenants. The key to ensuring the spaces worked successfully was to make them vibrant, busy, flexible, and attractive. A stunning commissioned tubular ceiling sculpture on the ground floor – also visible to passers-by – celebrates art and adds drama and scale. The sculpture has been created from re-purposed cardboard tubes and incorporates biophilia and low energy lighting. The entire amenity space promotes wellness through physical environments such as a contemplation room and yoga studio, while the cafe will celebrate local and sustainable produce.” The amenity spaces include co-working and lounge areas; sustainable and seasonal F&B offers, open to the local community and an accent throughout on nature, biophilia, social connection and contemplation spaces, with great cycling and shower facilities to encourage more active travel into work. An elevated area – The Canopy – will be a serene environment for contemplation and wellbeing, incorporating a treatment room and a full-size fitness studio. Finally, a roof garden is both a place to escape during work hours but, with its all-season terrace, can also flex to host night-time events and activities. The lighting design for the scheme needed to 030 / 031
help create a variety of zones with different moods for task-oriented work or relaxation. Lighting is also a major feature of the ground floor sculptural installation and was developed, as with all the amenity lighting scheme, together with Paul Shoosmith of Light Forms. To enhance the scheme’s human-centric experience further, a large majority of the light fixtures have tunable white LEDs fitted, allowing the colour temperature of the space to change to suit the environment and reflect the natural circadian rhythm. All architectural fixtures are DALI dimmable, enabling complete control of both the light output and energy consumption throughout the space. www.spaceinvaderdesign.co.uk www.lightforms.com