An urban texture for the office environment. The flooring system Human Connection, designed by David Oakey for Interface, recalls the kerbstone, the paver or the flagstone of well-worn city streets to help to trace the map of a dynamic working environment, while embraces nature’s elements to promote a biophilic design.
Increasingly technology driven working environments and flexible work policies have created the need to trace clear pathways across the office in order to manage the constant flow of people, ideas and activities.
Human Connection created by David Oakey for Interface draws inspiration from biophilia and neighborhood meeting places, such as streets, squares, and pathways in order to design a flooring system suitable for a dynamic working environment, based on communication, technology, and the wellbeing of the people: a project developed through the guidelines of the WELL Building Standard that Interface has called “+Positive spaces”.
“Human Connections is an example of modular tile achieving a new level of flexibility”, said Oakey. “The product line genuinely mimics city surfaces such as turfs, patterns, textures and grounds, using them to create interiors that function more like neighbourhoods that encourage collaboration.”
Human Connection is comprised of eight different styles, all 50cm x 50cm squares, which can be fit together to create the desired composition, also with already existing Interface collections, such as Human Nature and Urban Retreat. Sett in Paver, Stone, Kerbstone and Flagstone recall well-worn city streets, while Moss and Moss in Stone attach seamlessly to introduce greenery.
The collection was developed respecting the Interface’s Mission Zero protocol, focused on design and manufacturing sustainable practices: the collection uses a 100 percent recycled, solution-dyed yarn system with an average of 56 percent overall recycled material. Also, the Interface’s installation system, TacTiles, is thought to eliminate the need for glue, forming a “floating floor” that makes the tiles easy to update and replace.
Text by Gabriele Masi.
