Investment bank

Designer Hanne Margrete Hjermann worked with existing furniture and the architectural limitations of a classic Oslo building for the new office of this investment bank. Inspired by the firm’s name she drew an interior that has a distinctly light, open and cool feel to it.

Keeping it cool

Meeting the design brief was challenging but rewarding, says Hjermann: “The building has a glass façade, but the height of each floor is limited. On top of that, the office had to be divided in two different zones: one with limited access for financial transactions and one for the public. At the same time I wanted it to be airy and light. All the materials were selected to reinforce this design intent.”

Large and light

To make the most of the company’s ‘cool’ Hjermann used open spaces with large and light surface areas. “To complement this look I specified a milky white floor”, says the designer. “I gave our supplier no technical specs; I just asked him for a quality floor and he brought a Hakwood floor which suited the directive. Since then I’ve used Hakwood in a number of projects.”