the exchange, solihull
Client
Lucent Financial Planning
Overview
Location: Solihull
Services
Office Planning
Office Design
FF&E
Dressing
Photography Direction
Team
Principal Contractor: Estilo
Interior Architecture: San Stae
Interior Design: San Stae
Photography: Jake Osborne
A contemporary commercial unit built on the site of a former telephone exchange, this office renovation project brought fresh inspiration, new challenges and a beautifully sculpted four-metre high waffle ceiling.
Our brief was to transform 200 square metres of tired office space into a comfortable, considered and more productive professional environment for a young, award-winning wealth management team and their visitors.
Our client’s company name, “Lucent”, meaning “luminous“ or “radiant“, was the first point of design inspiration, as we refreshed and retro-fitted existing meeting room partitions with additional glazing to enable more light to pass through the dark central passageway. The former staff kitchen was re-designed to include a more social and interactive layout with a peninsula and recreational area for lunch breaks. A new double-height glazed partition was additionally constructed to provide a brand-new board room and prevent sound disruption to the central office space, while an abundance of planting and ribbed glass was embedded throughout for added visual interest and privacy.
“We needed Aly to design an office refit for our financial planning firm. It used to look like a jaded hospital ward with all the colour and personality that you would expect from a financial adviser. But in truth, that isn’t us and Aly latched on to this! We needed the space to be more practical and to be used better, as well as just looking great. This involved extending internal offices, making the whole look and feel of the office more relaxed, comfortable and friendly too.”
“It’s been a delight to see the results and we are already noticing increased productivity from being able to us our space better, have more client meetings and deal with people that are infinitely more relaxed due to the surroundings. Aly is quick thinking, creative as you would expect but also discerning in use of my time so that it was all as efficient as possible.”
“On a personal note, Aly is inspirational, exciting and relaxing to work with and done my ego no measure of good because being a businessman with an over inflated sense of self-importance, being able to drop in that you have an interior designer is absolutely awesome! It was the first time I felt I had ‘made it’.”
- S. Rowe
