Atrium by Studio RHE

Amy Frearson | 20 August 2011 3 comments

Rotating walls with acid green edges slot together like jigsaw pieces between a London lighting showroom and its window display.

Located at the base of the Centre Point tower, the Atrium showroom was designed by Studio RHE.

Reclaimed railway sleepers step down from the window to a bar at the centre of the store for events.

Lighting products are displayed on the ceiling above this space, mounted onto white geometric shapes with the same glossy green edges.

More lighting products are attached to the walls at the back of the showroom.

Photography is by Bjarte Rettedal.

Here are some more details from Studio RHE:

Atrium

For the last twenty years, ‘Atrium’ has been located in the base of the Centrepoint tower, the iconic building that once held the title of the tallest building in London.

Recently ‘Atrium’ has made a professional move away from modern furniture supply to selling the finest lighting products – a move that needed both explanation and celebration.

This then lead to a design Brief that required an interactive open space, with a central reception area that could very easily be converted into a darkened showroom.

‘Studio RHE’ reacted to the Brief by designing a carefully choreographed intertwined space which utilizes a series of rotating, interlocking, hinged, jig‐sawed wall panels that transform the bright day‐lit space to a darkened showroom with a simple twist.

These rotating walls allow natural light to be played with throughout the day as well as adding an ever changing frontage to the streetscape of St. Giles Circus.

This theatrical transformation will let ‘Atrium’ demonstrate their range of ‘Soft Architecture’ lighting by FLOS. ‘Studio RHE’ has emphasized this by arranging a rich mix of tactile materials from high gloss resin to reclaimed Yara timber sleepers.

This has been done whilst keeping to a simple palette of predominantly a clean white, accentuated by a bright acid green used throughout the edges as a luminous highlight.

Finally an darkened ‘inner sanctum’ meeting space has been created with colour change lighting control wheels and integrally plastered fittings within the walls.

These complete the showroom experience before returning to the beautifully fitted central kinetic bar at the heart of the space.

The design direction is continued through the entire space to the Offices above where desks are arranged along a diagonal show wall with integrated screens and net surfing booths that look out over the double height showroom and plaza.