Commercial Interior Design - Common Areas in an Art Deco Apartment Block
We were called in by the Chartered Surveyor who was charged by the Residents' Association of Hartington Court to carry out the commercial refurbishment of their common areas. He needed an inspirational solution for the design.
The analogy of the ocean liner was too strong to resist. The long Art Deco lines of the building itself suggested the stacked decks of the SS Normandie. The nautical flavour is enhanced by the fresh tidal breezes of the River Thames running just twenty yards behind the apartment block.
Adrienne first turned her attention to the entrance gate and the new railings. The new gate was graced with that favourite of Deco design, the oversize circle, which compliments the new globe lights on each plinth. Adrienne developed the design of the railings to mirror the three long windows that illuminate the building's stairwell. The globe lights are resonated once more with the small globe bearers that carry the top of the "ship's" handrail.
Now to the interior. The maze of corridors and stairwells in this building were drab and cold; Adrienne introduced colour and form. The insistent horizontal on the wall gives a sense of ascending levels, mimicking and reinforcing the strong exterior structure. The solid concrete stairs are broken up and softened by the alternate use of navy and sky blue with the stainless steel handrail adding the touch of luxury you'd expect on your ocean crossing. The chosen flooring was a hard-wearing rubber which is very easy to cut into shapes. The corridors were to a modernist design of dark blue lines for walkways and white circles for junctions on a sky blue background.
Although the new design is quite bold the period feel was retained by reproducing the flat number boards exactly from the surviving originals. The rather nasty existing strip lighting was replaced by round stainless steel bulkhead lights. And of course everyone got a bright new coat of paint on their front door!
