Rubicon Group

Cape Town / Edgemead

Rubicon Group – a specialist in sustainable technology, lighting and building automation, approached Trend to design a modern and industrial-inspired flagship office space for its newly developed warehouse and showroom in Richmond Park, Cape Town. The brief included designing an office space for 120 people, additional warehouse offices and workshop stations within the warehouse facility, and a new state-of-the-art, user experience-based showroom.

Trend designed and delivered a bold, modern office and showroom that celebrates Rubicon’s focus on innovation and its sustainable approach to design. The design team drew inspiration from Rubicon’s logo with its masculine, futuristic curves, and focused on integrating this aesthetic into the design. Key design concepts included strong curves, motion, technology and connectivity.

The resulting space is strongly reflective of Rubicon’s culture. In practical terms, the design was driven by the elongated floor plan. Productivity and focus areas are situated along the perimeter of the floor plate, whilst collaboration and meeting spaces were placed in the central areas. Colours were selected from Rubicon’s corporate identity to develop a muted colour palette, with pops of brighter hues being used to emphasise specific design features.

The functions of the various office areas are defined through the specific use of colours and materials. Productivity and focus spaces feature a neutral colour palette of greys, timber finishes and exposed services. In contrast, collaboration and meeting spaces are demarcated with blue-toned carpets and outlined above by perimeter bulkheads. An entirely different collaboration environment was created in the Central Hub, which is more playful in its mix of temporary and permanent spaces and its bright colour accents, which make it a fun and interactive environment. Given the client’s focus on sustainability, these spaces also incorporated advanced technology and biophilic design elements.

The flagship showroom built on the inspiration provided by Rubicon’s bold logo and the multiple industries that this client serves. Trend’s team created a space that showcases the company’s products and services within a variety of hypothetical environments such as a retail clothing space, a grocery store, an industrial warehouse and a home parking garage. The main objective was to create a simplified yet interactive user experience for clients and viewers. This was achieved by means of archways and circular spaces to demarcate the different areas. In addition, a beautifully modern information area has been created to showcase Rubicon’s information technology systems on digital platforms.

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