Office The Challenge
The Details
Part of the Barking Riverside multi-use regeneration project, The Wilds is designed to create a strong architectural visual impact. This new multi-purpose community, ecology and events space is a cultural hub within a housing area, with the primary users being local social enterprise Participatory City from Participatory City and ENVAC, the Swedish company specialising in automated waste management collection.
Barking Riverside Ltd chose Rhino from a tender process to refurbish the interior shell of this icon into a post-covid multi-use space. This involved an entrance area with cafe along with flexible, agile spaces elsewhere. The building is rated BREEAM excellent, and therefore careful consideration had to be in place when selecting furnishings that would keep the sustainability theme of the space. They were impressed with Rhino’s initial proposal, as we had space-planned it a little differently to the other proposals and had put forward the most interesting design and selection of furniture.
Our Solution
Our proposal included a café kiosk centrally located in the main entrance, featuring biophilia (to resonate with the ecology setting) and lots of flexible furniture pieces with recycled and sustainable materials. The once furniture-only brief then developed to include M&E, allowing the café to function, and AV works for projectors and speakers in the exhibition space.
Upstairs, our furniture proposal extended to the terrace where durable bench seating was provided with a colour scheme that complimented the striking external façade. Fabric and finishes selection was key on this project, with a carefully-curated palette that worked in harmony with the setting.
It all starts with “hello”
Fill out the form below and one of our specialist consultants will be in touch to discuss your workspace needs.