Reviewing our time at the Workspace Design Show, and insights into our jungle tunnel design

Held every year in London, the Workspace Design Show is a striking showcase of modern interior design where you can explore innovative products and solutions in office design. The show brings together leading brands and industry leaders to share their knowledge and insight into workplace design and shaping the future.

This year’s theme of ‘Activate the Senses’ was perfect for incorporating biophilic design, and we jumped at the chance to feature real plants. We do our best at Plant Designs to use living plants over other alternatives, and here they have that irreplaceable live sensory aspect. Thinking about how to reconnect people with plants in all their senses, we concluded that we wanted to create an immersive and tactile experience that went beyond just plants in pots. We sought to create something that people could feel, engage with and remember long after visiting. We also felt it should be visually striking – something that would catch people’s attention from afar.

With the theme in mind, we considered as many senses as possible, including sight, touch, sound and scent. Plants already encompass sight, touch and scent (to some degree), but creating soft and inviting visuals, an enigmatic atmosphere and adding natural scent would be key.

Our vision developed as a green lush walkable tunnel that is enclosed on almost all sides, taking advantage of our stand length. Initially our idea was a fully enclosed sensory box, but we wanted to emphasise movement and the concept of journeying. Translucent panels create an alluring atmosphere, creating plant silhouettes from the outside, whilst inside, a dense array of greenery fully immerses visitors in a jungle-like escape. Specifically made troughs with panels were built so that plants could be installed either side of the walkway – these planters spanned half of the stand. Fabric would be draped overhead, interspersing more and more light as one neared the end of the tunnel.

On the other side, we created a long plant timeline detailing the different steps of a plant journey, running the entire length of the open stand space and into the greenery. The timeline showed key information about how plants all originate from the outdoors in tropical environments, how greenhouses replicate those conditions and transport them to us.

Stimulating the senses was at the forefront of this design, and it was important to close the distance between people and plants. We wanted to create a landscape that could be traversed and interacted with, directly reconnecting people back to nature. It was important to let visitors be able to walk through the space, to pause to touch the plants, and to breathe in and listen to the natural scents and sounds.

We installed this design the day before the show, going from an empty white space to a plant-filled oasis in just one day. With our installs team, the planters were transported, positioned and filled with plants (see our Instagram timelapse here). Sections of dark green fabric were draped above to enhance the immersion and further enclose the space. For height and top coverage, large strelitzia, manila and areca palm were used – as tall or taller as the height of the stand – with the intent to naturally create depth, block out light and recreate a natural rainforest canopy.

We used plants that would replicate a lush natural jungle. Robin Scorletti, our Landscape Design Lead, expertly chose the best plants for this, keeping in mind the open plan space and length of the event – with robust and broad-leafed species that had visual impact and longevity. We kept the planting wild with some leaves leaning into the path, so that people would have to touch and move some plants out of the way in order to move through the space.

Lights were placed to create glow in various places within the walkway, lighting it up from the inside. To add scent and sound, we added a diffuser with eucalyptus essential oil and a speaker playing gentle rainforest sounds (lots of birds!). These were all hidden amidst the planting, mostly in the centre, creating an enticing sensory stimulus that deepened the further you moved into the tunnel.

Mirit Beck, Head of Client Services

As well as our biophilic stand, there was a lot to see and do during the show, including some amazing stand designs and various talks across three different stages. Our top conference was ‘Healthy Cities and Healthy Offices’ on the Sustainability Talks stage at the end of day one, with a strong focus on workplace satisfaction when it comes to mental and physical wellbeing.

Inspiring mentions include Now Carpets’ feature of a beautiful botanical rug design, an artistic biophilic wall by One Wall Design, and our favourite stand of the whole show by Allsfar, who entirely integrated their product into their stand – topped off by some charming felt orchids.

The Workspace Design Show was an incredible opportunity to push the boundaries of biophilic design and engage in meaningful conversations about the future of workspaces. Seeing visitors interact with our green stand and immerse themselves in the experience reinforced just how powerful sensory design can be.

We appreciate everyone who had a hand in bringing this together; we’re really proud of how it turned out and how amazingly the show went for us as a result. We hope this jungle experience made an impact on those who visited, and we can’t wait to bring more innovative concepts to life in future events.

If you’d like to build life into your workplace with greenery, contact us at info@plantdesigns.co.uk or click here to learn more about office plants and their benefits.