Get wood…

We’ve noticed a lot of natural materials and finishes being used in office interiors lately, bringing a much more organic feel to the working environment. It’s a welcome change from all that stark white, or industrial looking bare concrete. So we thought we’d feature some of our favourite ones…

Wood features heavily in the San Francisco headquarters of technology company Cisco by local interior designers Studio O+A. Employees meet in octagonal timber gazebos and timber-clad walls feature padded niches in which individuals can recline with their laptops.

An angular wooden staircase ascends the lobby of this office renovation in the Dutch town of Hoofddorp by Amsterdam architects Studioninedots. Latticed panels milled from the same plywood used for the staircase create decorative railings around the edges of the atrium.

Recycled wooden boards and pallets are stacked up as furniture at this office in Kraków by Polish designers Morpho Studio. Located in a former factory, the office for advertising agency Pride&Glory Interactive also features glazed meeting rooms with wooden frames and plank and batten doors.

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has layered wooden boards to create striations inside this workspace and cafe for an online restaurant guide based in Osaka. “We piled up pieces of wooden panels to build the interior like topography,” said Kuma. “Various kinds of food-related items are laid out on this wooden ground.”

Finally a ‘living staircase’. This spiral staircase conceived by London designer Paul Cocksedge will feature balustrades overflowing with plants and circular spaces where employees can take time out from their work.