Moreysmith put the fizz into new offices for the drinks company, moving its HQ into a once-neglected Georgian terrace

Details

Client: Moët Hennessy UK
Design: Moreysmith
Size:1,400 sq m
Completion time: 3 months

Project Details

The Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser believed it was possible to cure 'sick' buildings using the healing power of design. He would find buildings he considered unhealthy - an ugly, utilitarian power station, for example - and bring it to life with his own colourful and creative brand of architecture.

London-based practice Moreysmith faced a similar challenge in this project for drinks company Moët Hennessy when it moved its london office to a Georgian terrace in Grosvenor Gardens: the location and size of the building suited the luxury drinks company perfectly, but years of neglect had left the interior drab and in need of some major design surgery.

Most of the original interior features of the Grade II listed building, including the original decorative moulding, had been stripped out, and much of the space, which has been an office for various companies over the years, had false ceilings. it feel cramped and dingy.

But the designers at Moreysmith, who actually helped find the building for moët Hennessy, could see it had potential. 'We had to visualise what the space could look like and it was quite a leap of faith,' says Moreysmith's creative director Andrew McCann.

Rather than trying to recreate the building's original decorative features, Moreysmith pared the space back, removing most of the false ceilings to give the space a bright, spacious feel. Simple, straight coving was used in place of the mouldings and walls have been painted in neutral tones accented with lime green furniture by B+B Italia in the reception area.

As well as the poor state of the interior, another problem was the circulation, says McCann. To help matters the designers created a new half-turn staircase with metal treads and glass risers, which leads from the reception to a mezzanine and the first floor.

McCann says the client wanted 'an interesting and eye-catching artefact in the reception area, something that showed a vision of quality and was associated with champagne glasses and bottles, without being too literal.' the designers responded by creating a feature, to be placed behind the reception desk, made of glass cylinders that have been bonded to a mirrored wall. The wall is lit with LEDs.

The reception desk itself is topped with a slab of bush-hammered natural stone and has fret-cut metal letters in champagne-coloured aluminium depicting the Moët Hennessy logo bonded to the front. Like the feature wall behind, the desk front is framed in anodised aluminium, again in a champagne-coloured finish.

On the first floor, a boardroom doubles as a formal dining space, with walls lined in steel-grey fabric from Kvadrat. the product, called sudden, has an almost-metallic look and a leather-like finish, and runs in vertical strips, with set-in recesses to house bottles of fine champagne and cognac. The recesses are top-lit and have mirrored backs, showing off the products at their best. Visitors can also enjoy hospitality in a bar area and in meeting rooms decorated in a colour scheme of aubergine, lime and champagne, with more furniture from B & B Italia.

The designers describe what they did as 'inserting a modern interior with complementary traditional touches into a historic building,' but the scheme, which includes a more collaborative work area with Knoll desks and strong graphic images from the company's ad campaigns printed on to glass partitions, also has a positive effect on the way the company works, says McCann.

'It has brought them all together and they now have an office they're proud of,' he says. 'Their old space was getting tired and dated and this has really brought them back up to where they wanted to be.'

Managing director Linda Morey smith adds: 'We wanted to create a space that felt both business-like and welcoming, where homely touches married with the latest business technology, and where visitors could sample the very best that Moët Hennessy has to offer in an environment that is always interesting but never too challenging.'

This article was first published in fx Magazine.