Palm Court Energy Meets East London Grit at Conductor, 3,400 sqm Flexible Hospitality-Inspired Workspace.

The best workplaces make you forget, momentarily, that you’re there to work. Conductor—a 3,400 sqm flexible workspace in Stratford, East London—does exactly that. Designed by interior studio Tabitha Isobel in collaboration with architect Studio Multi for operator IWG within URW’s Coppermaker Square development, it’s a project that draws its references not from the co-working playbook but from the spatial generosity of historic palm courts and the tactile warmth of hospitality interiors. The result is something that feels genuinely surprising.

The atrium was the move that made everything else possible. A generous, light-flooded volume that the two studios recognised immediately as something worth designing toward rather than through. Instead of reaching for hospitality tropes as decoration, they used them structurally: the spatial drama of historic palm courts, the textural warmth of hotel interiors, the sense that a space should shift and reveal itself across the course of a day. The colour palette followed the copper heritage of the surrounding Coppermaker Works, with rust, amber and deepened ochre tones threading through the material direction from floor to furniture.

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Arrival sets the tone immediately. Solus ceramic floor tiles in terracotta and warm white are laid in alternating brick and block formations, creating rhythm underfoot that plays against exposed concrete columns and visible services overhead. The reception desk facade is clad in Dzek volcanic ash glazed tiles—nuanced ochre tones interspersed with deep brown—a graphic, tactile threshold that establishes the project’s material intelligence from the outset. Soft sofas by &Tradition sit alongside HAY lounge chairs over Nordic Knots rugs, with burl wood tables by Ferm Living completing a furniture arrangement that reads more hotel lobby than open-plan office.

Moving into the atrium proper, the scale opens dramatically. Bespoke planters—again clad in Dzek tile, this time in vertical bands of varying greens—rise with generous planting that draws the eye upward into the double-height volume. Sheer cylindrical pendants float overhead, their diffused glow shifting with the light. A sunken conversation pit, upholstered in deep wine tones by Panaz and sheltered beneath a Symphonic Acoustic canopy by Arktura, offers a cocooned contrast to the openness above. Adjacent, the library draws on Celosia terracotta brick by Mutina to create permeable partitions that filter light while casting patterned shadows across walnut joinery—a quieter, more enclosed register within the wider scheme.

A Performance-focused Workspaces with Wellness Facilities for Small Businesses in Cologne.

After years of offices trying to replicate home comfort, Valentyns shifts focus back to performance. Located in a 1960s Cologne building overlooking the River Rhine, the workspace spans 2,100 square metres with 43 private offices, six meeting rooms, and a dedicated state-of-the-art wellness floor.

Studio founder Tabitha Organ puts it plainly: “We wanted people to walk in and be surprised that it was a workplace. The atrium created an opportunity to design something immersive—a space that shifts throughout the day and supports different ways of working. By layering materials, lowering ceilings in certain zones and allowing light to filter through rather than blocking it, we were able to create intimacy without enclosure.”

Upstairs, end-grain oak parquetry by Ted Todd signals a shift in register. From the mezzanine, the planting below reads as a canopy, maintaining visual connection to the atrium while creating a degree of psychological distance from its energy. Glazed private offices, back-to-back booths and informal lounge areas sit alongside one another, the palette cooling slightly with light blue sofas offering a tonal counterpoint to the terracotta warmth below.

Conductor doesn’t try to look like a workplace. Tabitha Isobel and Studio Multi have delivered something much more atmospheric: layered, considered and grounded in a material rigour that holds across every zone. In a sector still finding its footing post-pandemic, this is the kind of project that shifts the conversation.

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[Images courtesy of Tabitha Isobel. Photography by Jasper Fry.]