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Bleacher seating with Microsoft branding coloured seat pads in an office breakout area

XMA

Office Refurbishment | London

About the Client

XMA are a major IT provider to large corporations with impressive partners. They deliver IT solutions and products to ensure businesses work smarter by evolving and transforming the way they work.

Lead by: Julie Anderson

Services: Office Furniture, Office Interior Design, Office Refurbishment, Office Space Planning

Location: London

Markets: Office

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A colourful breakout space designed by Rap Interiors with versatile office furniture

Office Interior Design Brief

XMA’s Head Office in St Albans was looking for a contractor to work with them on multiple phases for their office refurbishment project. The office would be occupied requiring the first phase to provide a collaborative office breakout testing space sponsored by Microsoft. The scheme was a Scandinavian feel that employees and clients would feel suitable for testing of Microsoft products.

A Scandinavian inspired office interior design with wood design features

Our Solution

Rap’s office interior designers carefully included timber elements in the interior design to reflect a sustainable office interior design. A natural colour scheme of grey and white while using oak influences supports the Scandinavian inspiration from the design brief. Along with using vinyl fabrics that can be easily cleaned after use.

A variety of seating allowed the workspace to be versatile so it could be used for collaborative working. By creating different areas with soft seating, poseur tables, a circular meeting table and bleacher seating, the space served multiple functions, such as a breakout area and informal meeting space.

Key Features

Microsoft’s Branding Colours

The branding from Microsoft, four colours of red, green, yellow and blue, allowed our interior designers to include pops of colour into the office’s interior design with a colour scheme of grey tones, white and oak.

The bleacher seating was designed as a bespoke item to have different coloured seat pads that reflect the four branded colours.Four large glass wipe boards were installed to cover a whole wall that resembled the Microsoft Windows logo providing a think tank space.

Bleacher Seating

It was made especially as the focal point within the interior design of this workspace, incorporating the oak to coordinate with the rest of the wood features.

As well as the colourful seat pads, the structure of the seats has built-in power to allow for employees to charge their devices while in meetings or testing the Microsoft products.

The bleacher seating will be used for the demonstration of Microsoft’s products as well as for larger office staff meetings. It provides great versatility for an office design with a large team.

Bespoke furniture installed during an office refurbishment in London

Scandinavian Influence

The use of oak had a large impact on the design to accommodate the Scandinavian interior design brief:

An oak luxury vinyl tile (LVT) was used as the flooring in the office meeting area in a circular pattern under the large circular wood meeting table and chairs. The circular pattern was cut into the new carpet tiles that were laid in a fading pattern of blue into greys.
A feature wall of oak timber slats was installed as part of another meeting area of the workspace. The Microsoft logo and “The Hub” signage was mounted onto them too, seen as you enter the workspace.
A timber partition was installed as part of the office refurbishment to encapsulate a poseur table and high stools to create a meeting space. The partition separates this meeting area from the main corridor that is directly adjacent to this area.

An office meeting area with oak meeting table and chairs

The Result

Renamed as “The Hub”, the new workspace design is more collaborative for meetings, events and training to be held for product testing and for demonstrating the capabilities of Microsoft Surface devices.

A Word with XMA’s Head Office Marketing Manager

What did you hope this new design will do for the XMA office?

We really wanted to make a modern, collaborative working environment with inspiration from the Microsoft offices, and the Scandinavian feel. We wanted the space to be somewhere our staff could work in teams, to inspire collaboration and creativity and demonstrate the flexibility and capabilities of Microsoft Surface devices. It was also great to have an amazing new space for our staff to come back to after the Coronavirus Lockdown. We are really excited to start using the space, it looks amazing, thank you team Rap Interiors.

Did Rap Interiors fulfil your expectations you mention above?

Yes, they took the design brief and created a range of visuals and options for the office design, keeping in line with our budget and initial ideas and inspirations.

Has the new space been well received by the team at XMA?

Everyone is really excited to see the new workspace in our St Albans office, it definitely makes coming back to the office an exciting day post lockdown.

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Transform Your Office Design with Rap Interiors

Does your London Office Need a Modern Interior Design?

Your London office interior design should reflect your brand and be utilised by your employees with collaborative areas and informal meeting spaces.

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With over 30 years of experience in creating interior design ideas and refurbishment solutions for offices all of London and the UK, we can help you with your office fit out project.

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