Extending the Event Experience From the Moment of Arrival

At a global pharmaceutical headquarters in central London, ArtMorph extends a changing programme of events beyond the venue and into the spaces guests encounter first.

 

As the elevator doors open on the eighth floor, the event has already begun.

Guests first arrive in an area just outside the main event space. It may only be a short part of their journey, but it is where they begin to understand what is happening, where they are going and what kind of experience lies ahead.

ArtMorph is integrated throughout this arrival area and the overdoor sections, bringing branding and event information into the spaces guests encounter first. As different events take place on the floor, the same surroundings can take on a different role for each one.

 

 

The First Encounter with the Event

The eighth floor is home to a busy event space hosting seminars, conferences and a variety of other gatherings.

Each event brings its own audience, identity and information, placing different demands on the spaces around the main venue. The arrival area therefore needed to do more than simply lead people from one place to another. It needed to support a changing programme of events while remaining part of the architecture around it.

 

 

Designing Around the Event Experience

That idea brought Uncoded and CECOCECO together.

Uncoded, a technology consultancy specialising in the design and specification of content-driven environments within commercial real estate, worked alongside CECOCECO on the project. Together, the teams considered the architectural environment, display hardware and content strategy around how the event space would actually be used.

The focus was on creating an arrival area that could respond to the changing programme on the floor. Through ArtMorph, event branding, wayfinding, scheduling countdowns and access information can all be integrated into the surfaces guests encounter on their way to the main venue.

This means the same arrival area can support one event after another without being physically reworked. As the programme changes, so can the information and identity presented within the space.

 

 

Working with the Interior

The experience was designed not only around what ArtMorph would display, but also around how it would look when no content was shown.

The finishes were selected to complement the surrounding interior, with a Plaster texture used throughout the elevator lobby and a Brown solid-color texture across the overdoor areas. When the digital content recedes, these surfaces continue to sit naturally within the surrounding material palette rather than reading as conventional displays.

In this way, ArtMorph can become part of the event when needed, and simply part of the interior when it is not.

 

 

Rethinking the Role of the Event Space

The main event space may be where the programme unfolds, but it is not necessarily where the experience starts.

It starts a little earlier: when guests arrive on the floor, recognise where they are going and begin to sense the character of the event ahead.

At this headquarters, that short journey has been given a role of its own. The area outside the venue no longer feels like the space before the event; it becomes one of the first moments within it.

And when the elevator doors open for the next programme, the same space is ready to take on a new identity.