An experience for customers – great ergonomics for staff: the premises of Graficas Varias near Barcelona

The stage for the visitor is set with a dramatic intro: a spiral staircase in concrete dominates the foyer and takes the caller to the upper level – on its inside, the staircase is lined with a banister of black steel, the outside is delimited by a ceiling-high screen of light wood slats. This curving vertical room boundary is illuminated with the uniform light of ERCO Light Board LED recessed wallwashers. The staircase leads into a spacious reception area with lounge character. The counter and the purist built-ins are made of dark wood, there are comfortable seating arrangements and the aforesaid cabinets with product samples. Space-defining elements such as walls, floors and ceilings are kept in black and white and shades of grey. Set against this neutral backdrop, the interior concept devised by designer Maria Esteban Reche adds strong color accents – a nod to the principles of the graphic arts industry. The reception area, for instance, is styled with colorful upholstery in yellow and magenta, as the primary colors of four-color printing.

Panelled with wood slats, the reception area is illuminated by muted daylight, the brightness level otherwise is kept deliberately low. This gives prominence to the cabinets emphasized in brilliant light and to the accents projected elegantly by ERCO Pollux LED spotlights. Amber cove lighting along the ceiling perimeter completes the evocative lighting concept for the room. The flair of the interior designers for a dramatic sequence of spaces becomes obvious, as the visitor makes his way to the actual offices through an all but completely black corridor that holds an almost mystical appeal thanks to its illumination with LED downlights – and eventually opens out to a commodious and airy office section.

Ergonomic office lighting with LED downlights
As elsewhere, the office area is designed with surfaces of neutral colors, though here the predominant shades are the light grey and white of the floor and the back wall, which merges into an acoustic ceiling element ending a good two meters short of the outside wall. Different sections of the landscaped office are zoned by a transparent glass wall and the desks are arranged in groups of four, separated by mid-height, vertical acoustic elements. Again, the general design concept provides for a colored accent – this time not using material colors, but backlit, angled slots in the wall and ceiling. The colored light behind the diffuser covers is created by RGB LEDs and can be controlled as required.

Whilst using colored “focal glow” as a design feature is great, the glare-free and exceptionally energy-efficient ambient lighting of ERCO SkimLED recessed luminaires is important in terms of ergonomics. The colored light ceiling elements initially left limited mounting positions – a challenge which the interior designers ultimately solved by providing an appropriately sized luminaire grid that ensures adequately high levels of uniform illuminance for the workplaces without causing direct and secondary glare for the staff. The designers elected to use neutral white light at 4000K since it combines perfectly with the daylight in an office, where activating illumination with neutral and natural color rendering is required. For the front wall of the room with its built-in cupboards the designers chose ERCO Compact LED recessed wallwashers, thereby creating optimal conditions for the vertical visual tasks at the shelves. Individual workplace lighting for each employee is added in the form of LED desk luminaires.

The redesigned premises, so the head of Gráficas Varias, are intended to promote teamwork and cooperation. Thanks to the inventive interior concept and the perception-oriented and ergonomic lighting design, this has clearly been accomplished, as has the successful positioning of the company as a design-conscious and modern service provider and employer.