Forms of Dualism: Office Design for Kvistad

Forms of Dualism: Office Design for Kvistad

An Exploration on the Duality of Conscious and Unconscious Perception

A co-working office is designed for Kvistad, a design studio based in Norway. The design studio is known for their interior projects, lighting designs, recycled furniture and, handmade rugs of funky designs. Their identity stems from funky and fun characters, solid colours, monotonous interiors and organic forms. Functionality, good craftmanship and timelessness are also taken into consideration. To cater the different needs of individuals, a collaborative space is designed to serve various functions. The 3000 square feet office space is located at The Ascent, Selangor.

CONCEPT STATEMENT

Duality and simple forms are selected as the keywords. Simple forms like rounded rectangles, arches, circles are used, along with organic shapes derived from the client’s rug patterns. Duality suggests that there are two sides to everything. The duality of conscious and unconscious perception is explored. Acrylic panels of different opacity levels blur the illusion of what exists behind and the overlapping of colours create doubts of its original colour, creating a hazy state of consciousness. Gold tinted mirror is applied onto the walls of the storage room, which plays with the duality of existing and not by enabling the illusion of a mirrored cube in the space. The colour itself encourages the eye to see past into the reflected reality that is washed in golden yellow, which opposes the actual place by jumbling up all existing colours. Furthermore, duality also signifies parallel spaces, which is the co-existence of the same entity but with different possibilities. Most of the furniture are customised, inspired by the concept keywords and derived from the client's rug designs. 

THE PINKSCAPE: A COLLABORATIVE SPACE

The space encompasses elements of green awareness like the integrated planter swing, recycled writable acrylic panels and pink artificial grass. The pinkscape accomodates different activities. A projector assists in small presentations, talks and movie breaks whereas a sunken area in the middle gives privacy to small discussions and casual meetings. Writable acrylic panels ease the occupants in penning ideas, provide sound isolation from the surrounding and enabling the choice of privacy. During parties or events, the sliding panels and swings can be taken down from its track system to unfold the space. The corrugated texture of sound insulation adds contrast amongst the pink. Upwards pendant light reduces glare and adds warmth for a homey feel, whilst perforated acrylic panels are used for better acoustics.