hen it opened its new office in Dubai’s
W One Central district, global management
consultancy Bain & Company sought a design that would create a feeling of comfort for visitors, while drawing inspiration from the local surroundings. Designed by Allen Architecture Interiors Design (AAID), with lighting design from Studio N, the office space has been enriched with depth and drama, with Dubai’s Khor river inspiring a layer of energy and vibrancy to the experience. Light is one of the driving forces behind the imaginative workplace aesthetic, helping to bring the creative narrative to life and prompting mood transitions as occupants move from place to place. Lama Arouri, Managing Director at Studio N, explains how the original design brief from AAID shaped the lighting design consultancy’s approach: “We love working with AAID because they always have a clear vision of what they’re trying to achieve, and a strong storytelling aspect to their designs. Here, they took inspiration from the river separating old and new Dubai, and attempted to replicate the vitality and sense of community that the river embodies in a workplace context.” The river motif became the heartbeat of the scheme. It came to life in the form of a ribbon of red – Bain & Company’s corporate colour – which was embedded into the ceiling as a visual embodiment of the ebb and flow of the river, traveling through multiple spaces and helping to define the primary circulation routes and collaboration zones. Lighting design works in parallel with the energising swoop of colour, and brings a sense of rhythm to the dramatic red motif. “It was an important reference, and we responded by making light inherent to the user’s journey. We integrated light along and around the band of red to produce a uniform layer of ambient illumination, which twists and turns throughout the building and supports wayfinding by guiding occupants from place to place.” Across the circulation routes, where the band of red is visually dominant, it was important that the lighting played a supporting role to the bold explosion of colour. To do so, Studio N sourced minimalist black spotlights that blend into the background, but work cohesively with the architectural details elsewhere in the scheme. The synergy between colour and light continues in the communal spaces, encouraging interaction and elevating the mood. Each collaborative area is framed by a striking feature ceiling where illuminated red and neutral slats add a touch of theatre and textural interest to the space. The sweeping lines of red are replaced with dramatic decorative ceilings that sit above the seating areas and form a vibrant backdrop for interaction. “We consciously gave the bold ceiling the space it needed to breathe and used indirect illumination to subtly accentuate it,” Arouri says. In the communal spaces, linear LED fixtures were integrated at intervals between ceiling slats to add depth to the design, and to form a comfortable layer of ambient light above each casual seating area – a dramatic feature, but one where the 080 / 081
lighting is unobtrusive, to make people feel at home in the space. Arouri explains further how the mix of vibrant, colourful spaces allowed Studio N to take a more “playful” approach the lighting design. “Playful in an aesthetic sense to create ‘wow’ moments and draw out the materiality,” she says. “We used layers of light to create these focal points and mood transitions. In the collaboration areas, illumination is homely. In the private pods, it’s appropriately intimate. The open working areas and meeting rooms are purposefully dynamic, so we were much bolder with our design decisions. The lighting design is constantly shifting up or down a gear to change the ambience and add character to the visual environment.” In the open-plan work zones, Tetris-style luminaires provide a visual break from the linear design narrative that dominates elsewhere; the criss-cross configuration of the fittings casts a distinctive pattern of light across the desks below, while the graphic nature of the design helps to mark these areas as a dedicated space for focused work. Statement lighting also plays an important role in giving each meeting room its own identity. Curved and wave-effect luminaires bring a dimension of playfulness to the centre of the room, and at a higher level, minimalist downlights provide a gentle uniformity of light for video conferences and meetings. “In some areas, we were creative with the lighting to elevate the mood and feel of the space,” says Arouri. “The meeting rooms are a great example of this because we used decorative lighting elements to create an unexpected moment of drama. We focused on differentiating the different meeting rooms by using statement luminaires in the centre of the space to add personality and create a single focal point for the lighting. “We took the same approach in the café and kitchen areas where decorative lighting features were used for depth and drama, but here we relaxed the aesthetic slightly to evoke a more domestic tone.” In other areas, the lighting response is more restrained, giving precedence to the interior design team’s material choices. This is particularly evident in the colour-blocked pods and casual meeting areas, where Studio N used indirect lines of light to offset the self-assuredness of the tones and textures. “As these spaces are supposed to feel like a quiet place of refuge, where employees can focus on their work or have a conversation away from the busier areas of the office, we used diffuse lines of light in the ceiling and above desks. The overall setting feels dramatic, but our lighting is intimate and unassuming,” Arouri comments. The mixture of playful and intimate lighting strategies, coupled with the bold use of colour and texture throughout, brings a feeling of hospitality to the environment – something that is becoming more and more prevalent in modern workspaces. Indeed, it was a conscious decision to create this kind of vibe within the Bain & Company offices, as Arouri explains: “The commercial sector has