Colony Coworking Offices – Manchester
YOUTH was tasked with the design for the Colony coworking offices located in Manchester, England.
Colony is a coworking space in Manchester. Competing with the likes of WeWork, Colony wished to offer a mix of spaces. Bookable meeting rooms, private offices and floating desks within a productive atmosphere. The challenge for this project was to create a variety of different work settings within one environment whilst adhering to the budget. We aimed to create spaces which allowed the residents to define their own space and preference of working. Managing cost vs scale was no mean feat, hence we used sheet materials and designed to sheet sizes to reduce labour. We had to be inventive and intelligent with our architecture and not enclose every work space to allow for a communal use of M&E rather than dedicated as typically seen. This ultimately drove the material choices and then formed a datum which everything aligned to. It allowed us to be very honest and raw with the materials. Stained ply offered a warmth to the space without being overbearing and without breaking the bank in cost and labour.
As our first finished project, Colony presented the opportunity to showcase our culture as a design studio where fashion, art and design merge into one. Our projects are inspired by all of these elements and therefore are reflected in how we capture our spaces as well as how we furnish them. Using considered design pieces from the likes of Massproductions, &Tradition and Menu. Projects are often shot without people in them, maybe out of fear that the attention will be swayed from the design. Not us. People make the culture.
The project is located directly across the road from our longest running project so far, Kampus. A multi use project, incl 570+ apartments, in Manchester’s new cultural quarter on the edge of Piccadilly and the iconic Gay Village — due to be completed in 2020.
Designer: YOUTH
Contractor: Artez
Furniture Supplier: BY FORM
Photography: Felix Mooneeram
