Ad-Venture Room

Venture Engineering ‘provide cutting-edge engineering skills and expertise to their clients globally and they help realise any project from fabrication of parts for the latest Formula One car, to designing and manufacturing prototype components for a green energy storage system – and anything in between’.  

René Dekker Design was fortunate enough to meet the directors through another project, where they serviced and provided engineering skills and fabrication for our client’s substantial car collection.  Having recently moved premises to an 18 000 square foot warehouse in Gloucestershire, their vision was to open a state of the art workshop for their expanding company.  As part of the interior design installation they were keen to explore a break-out space which would have multiple uses from serving as the employee lounge as well as a presentation space for their clients plus a smart waiting area on the first floor. 

Effectively a Mezzanine room inside the double volume workshop, the space would have an angled 60’s style window overlooking the mechanic area below plus some cool circular skylights above.  The first stage was to create the design plan which would include the general arrangement and furniture layout, the lighting plan as well as a floor finishes plan.  Our aim was to at once create a sophisticated feel with masculine finishes that echoed what Venture provided as well as an informal space where employees could relax on a Friday after a hard working week.  As this was a long room, the aim was to plan it so that it didn’t feel like a corridor so shapes were used to create rooms (without walls).  An unassuming single door leads into a circular meeting space, one half enclosed in full height wall with another quarter circle made up of using wing shaped fins.  Centred on the space is a modern snooker table, some informal seating plus a cool dynamic bar and at the far end of the space we included a racing simulator.

We angled the ceiling of the racing area to add perspective, lighting was used to full effect from floor uplighters to a contemporary mesh chandelier by Moooi, the walls were hung with a patinated vinyl that resembled aging metal and curtains were made from steel mesh.  We used several finishes on the floor to delineate the spaces including leather panels, zigzag Bolon and distressed metal Amtico