For the tree saint of Ozzmundia @clarice_overhere@diaspora.psyco.fr
Spruce in a pot. Pruned like a puddle so it looks more like a pine than a spruce. Pot bound 15 m (or so) up in the air. But 6-7 years and living a life of its own. It began as a small Christmas tree for fun, now we take it very seriously.
Only a handful of spruce partitions carve up the pared-back interior of this London office, which McLaren Excell has created for Samsung's European design studio.
Set inside a 21-storey tower known as the Can of Ham building, Samsung Design Europe is one of the tech company's seven product design hubs across the globe, with other outposts located in the US, China, Brazil, India, Japan and South Korea.
Local architecture studio McLaren Excell said it devised the minimalist interior for the London headquarters to "consign the formality of the workspace to the past".
Spruce wood partitions break up the Samsung Design Europe headquarters
"[The office] instead embraces a more relaxed, informal and experiential place of work," explained the firm's co-founder Luke McLaren.
"We want the Samsung office to have all the qualities that are enjoyable about your home – a softness, a sense of calm, a high degree of tactility, spaces to congregate, spaces to which one can withdraw – but all the while nurturing that sense of welcome, of belonging, of enjoyment."
As a result, the office features just a handful of glue-laminated spruce partitions that loosely split the floor plan into private meeting rooms and communal zones where staff members can engage in more collaborative work.
Spruce fins also run along the office's windows
Spruce glulam also forms a series of vertical fins, which appear at intervals along the office's windows.
In the breakout area, the same pale-toned timber was used to craft the dining table, counter and benches.
Furnishings in the breakout area are made from spruce
Grey linen curtains that hang from tracks on the ceiling can be used to further divide up the open-plan office while bringing a sense of tactility to the interior.
In an effort to make the HQ seem more relaxed and inviting, planters overspilling with foliage were embedded into the top of the desk banks.
[ 
](https://www.dezeen.com/2020/06/22/splash-lab-showroom-interiors-los-angeles/)
McLaren Excell also abandoned a traditional lighting grid in favour of fitted lamps, which illuminate pockets of the office in more targeted and intimate ways.
The architecture studio was founded by Luke McLaren and Robert Excell in 2010 and is based in London's Chelsea neighbourhood.
Planters are embedded into the office's desk banks
Recent projects by McLaren Excell include a bathroom showroom in Los Angeles with arched doorways and altar-like tables reminiscent of a church.
_The photography is byLorenzo Zandri. _
The post McLaren Excell unveils minimalist London headquarters for Samsung Design Europe appeared first on Dezeen.
#all #interiors #london #uk #england #samsung #mclarenexcell #minimalistinteriordesign #officeinteriors #spruce
My wife bought it 4 or 5 years ago as a Christmas tree for the table. Afterwards we forgot about it for some time and eventually put it on the balcony. After a while she wanted to throw it out, but I hate killing trees (I have no problem killing flies, flounders and rabbits) so she decided on a new plan. Disruptive transplanting on someone else's property... But then I cut it back a bit and it started to sprout these light green branches, and she found that so touching that it now has become part of the family, living a sort of bonsai life on the balcony.
hm... finally got 6 stère of birch and 1 stère of spruce (to make small wood to light) firewood today... two friends helped to wheel it all into my little woodbarn within 4 hours... cooked them a dinner of gnocchi w. blue cheese sauce and salad; very grateful for the helping hands.
#fire #wood #logs #heating #oven #stove #birch #spruce #gratitude
