Interface recently partnered with YCH Architects to take on the task of designing for the future of the classroom at Roberta Road Middle School in Concord, NC. From top to bottom, this project’s goal was to create an inviting, safe and creative space for middle school-aged children that encourages learning, collaboration and community.
Taking inspiration from Earth’s magnetic pole, Roberta Road was built to align 11 degrees from True North. The intuitive design team at YCH Architects used this constant to subconsciously connect end-users, integrating the 188,000 square-foot building’s 11-degree angle into architectural and design decisions. Precision flooring would be integral to bringing their vision to reality.
Architect/Design: YCH Architects, Photos: © Kelly Klemmensen
Interface was selected as a partner for the project to help foster collaborative learning through design and to enhance education spaces. When developing the interior, the team connected the angular, architectural elements of the building wherever possible. This consideration is seen in the carpet pattern in the media center, the connection points of the carpet, and the inclusion of resilient flooring in the main commons entryway.
To combine tactile with technical, the team specified Interface’s Circuit Board™ carpet tile from the Visual Code™ collection, which blends hi-tech and hi-touch into a pattern that marries visuals of glitch graphics and technicolor circuitry, and Video Spectrum™ from the Simple Abstraction™ Collection, which provides texture and strokes of color in contrasting design.
The Visual Code collection is made up of ten different patterns with simple textures that recall plain woven fabrics and rugs. Circuit Board is at once precisely like wiring and vaguely like an ancient tribal motif in a never-ending pattern, a finely linear matrix with softly pooling areas of light and dark with no visible repeats. Its varied primary and secondary colors pop with this contrast to create unique spaces connected together by a common theme.
Architect/Design: YCH Architects, Photos: © Kelly Klemmensen
Working in conjunction with Visual Code, the Simple Abstraction collection creates canvases across the floor, each becoming its own artistic expression when textures are combined, colors are chosen, and marks are made. Video Spectrum activates each colorway by setting various shades side-by-side and developing a visual frequency on the floor. Brush strokes spark imagination with every fiber and every tile.
Both products support wayfinding and space-specific needs through Interface’s integrated flooring system. The multiple colorways of Circuit Board and matching abstraction of Video Spectrum bring out the essence of experimental and expressive learning, a driving factor in designing for the future of education, enhancing the overall building design, and creating a. cohesive look at Roberta Road Middle School.