Box Architects’ Associate Director, Angela Newton, has urged colleagues across the industry not to be slaves to fashion when designing interiors for their latest architectural projects.
Her comments came as the Pantone Colour Institute, who’ve been investigating colour trends in fashion, home furnishing, graphics – and architecture – for more than 20 years, pinpointed Ultimate Grey and Illuminating Yellow as the colours of the year for 2021.
“I love that particular colour of yellow, but I have to put my personal preferences to one side when dealing with clients,” said Project Architect Angela, who is Box’s lead in the increasingly important area of interior design within office refurbishments and residential developments.
“It comes down to client-centricity – something we believe in very strongly at Box. We have to take time to understand our clients and put ourselves in their shoes. Some will warm to strong, vibrant colours; other will want a more classic look.
“A lot of architects just want to do the bricks and mortar stuff but, as a practice, we have strong leanings towards interiors and put that higher up the agenda, particularly on our many office refurb and residential projects.”
“We will have discussions about ‘look and feel’ for interiors very early in the process, and will share mood boards for materials, colours and finishes – fact-finding, to understand our clients.”
On some Box projects, the colour palette has been governed by the client’s brand guidelines – the TTEC customer experience centre for VW in Leeds, for example.
Elsewhere, colour has been used to create the right mood. At St James’s House in Telford, where Box transformed a former HMRC building into services offices, colour creates a welcoming destination where staff and visitors are encouraged to collaborate.
Or at CSL Centrica’s new offices in Hull, where the client’s brief was to provide a contemporary, vibrant and inspiring office environment.
“Fashions will change, colours will date – so a client-centric approach will always produce the best results,” added Angela.
“A lot of architects just want to do the bricks and mortar stuff but, as a practice, we have strong leanings towards interiors and put that higher up the agenda, particularly on our many office refurb and residential projects.”
Angela Newton, Associate Director, Box Architects