Office Refurbishment · Cardiff City Centre

City Centre Office Refurbishment

A period office floor in Cardiff city centre, refurbished as a calm, modern organic workplace with natural materials set against the building’s original windows and cornices.

Period office buildings in the heart of a city often have everything a good workplace needs: tall windows, generous ceilings and fine plasterwork. What they lack is warmth, good acoustics and the variety of spaces that modern working calls for.

This refurbishment keeps the building’s character as the backdrop and softens everything within it. Oak, lime plaster, wool and linen bring the floor down to a human scale, deep navy columns give it structure, and planting runs throughout, so the office feels calm and welcoming from the moment you arrive.

Studio AROS designed the refurbishment and managed its delivery, carrying the scheme from the first layout through to the finished floor.

Location Cardiff city centre

Type Office refurbishment

Style Modern organic interior

Services Design & delivery management

Spaces Open workspace, reception, meeting rooms & quiet seating

Reception with a curved lime plaster desk, oak slatted wall, paper pendant and a built-in oak bench

Meeting room with an oval oak table, upholstered chairs, linen curtains and a fluted glass partition

A curved oak window seat with wool cushions and a brass reading lamp in a deep sash window reveal

Fluted glass screen in slim oak frames, softening the view into a meeting room

Materials

A restrained, natural palette

Solid oak desks, benches and slatted walls
Lime plaster and limewashed walls
Wool upholstery and linen curtains
Fluted glass in slim oak frames
Deep navy columns and brass details
Planting throughout the floor

The Design

Three moves that shape the workplace

From the period shell through to the way the team uses the floor day to day, these are the decisions that carry the design.

Period character, kept and calmed

The tall sash windows, ornate cornices and wide oak floor are the building’s best assets, so the design lets them lead. New elements stay low, soft and natural in tone, leaving the architecture to set the rhythm of the floor.

Natural materials throughout

Curved oak desks, a lime plaster reception desk, wool upholstery and linen curtains give the office warmth and texture, and soften the acoustics. Deep navy columns anchor the space, and planting runs the length of the floor.

Space for every kind of work

Open workspace for the team, meeting rooms behind fluted glass for privacy without losing light, and window seats for quiet, focused work. It is the same joined-up approach we bring to all our commercial and public work.