How do you design a sculpting workshop people never want to leave?

I wanted the space to maximise collaboration right down to the smallest decisions. That included how people move around the room, where they pause, how they can talk while working, and even where the coffee machine and food counter sit in relation to the workshop itself.

The point was to make interaction feel natural rather than staged. The lounge area, the long shared surfaces, and the custom table tennis table all help the room shift from focused making space into somewhere for informal meetings, critique sessions, hospitality, or simply staying a bit longer because the atmosphere encourages it.

I went for birch ply almost everywhere: work benches, side tables, shelving, tool-hanging, and seating elements could all be bespoke made quickly and cleanly in the same language. That consistency keeps the room calm while making fabrication and future additions more straightforward.

Concrete tops give the main benches the hard-wearing weight they need for real use, while custom steel footings add strength where the pieces have to do more. Even the hanging power cables were considered as part of the system, suspended from the ceiling so they can be moved, removed, or repositioned as the room evolves.