In refitting its national premises at the edge of Wellington’s CBD, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) represented a new way of working, through a dynamic interior scheme fitted with Awake carpet tiles from Advance Flooring.

Architects Designgroup Stapleton Elliott organised the refreshed interior around three major themes – cultural expression, celebrating movement and creating destinations.

‘The project needed to accommodate existing base-build constraints and maximise the existing fitout, while challenging the norms of Government working to achieve workplace goals,’ says architect André Bankier-Perry. ‘Working to a limited budget, a strong focus was placed on optimal value for money – concentrating on areas where staff and visitors converge.’

Critically, the floor plan became a primary spatial organiser. ‘Operating within an expansive floor plate, it was important that spaces remained human scale and personable. Carpet tiles provided a framework to demarcate zones, achieved through the allocation of specific hues throughout the floor plate.’

For the high-use collaborative and amenity spaces, the designers chose from Advance Flooring’s Awake collection. The colour palette, derived from the CAA’s refreshed core values, is both expressive and aviation centric.

‘The space is celebrated in a deep inky-blue colourway,’ says André. ‘The sophistication found in subtle textural and tonal variation imbues the qualities of a domestic setting, while retaining the robustness required for the heavily used areas they serve.’

Natural and subtlety-coloured, the Awake carpet tiles’ organic patterns are inspired by the New Zealand landscape, flora and fauna, while providing a soft but hard-wearing surface underfoot. Available ex-stock, they are an ideal solution for sophisticated commercial, corporate and public service interiors.

‘We used colour blocking to define different zones through variation in floor coverings, wall treatments and ceilings,’ notes André. ‘Alternating between hard and soft flooring further enhanced the feeling of human scale within the larger office environment, and the Awake tiles fitted perfectly with that.’

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CREDITS

Product: Awake

Architect: Designgroup Stapleton Elliott

Photographer: Andy Spain

Writer: Folio