here are a number of obvious ways that companies can give their office space a bit of a spruce – from a lick or two of paint and flowers on the desks to impressive murals and branded graphic displays.

But while so much attention is given to walls, why is the potential of doors often overlooked? As a symbol for new beginnings and possibilities, there isn’t a more fitting platform for imaginative design than a door. Plus, for visitors and employees alike, it can be the entryway to where the magic happens within a business.

So, when digital marketing agency, The Bigger Boat, decided it wanted to make an impactful entrance to its new meeting room, the team turned to Deuren for inspiration.

The space

Located within a converted mill in West Yorkshire, the agency’s rural surroundings are reflected within the office by artful hardwood and chipboard cladding. While the high ceilings and redbrick perimeter walls echo the site’s industrial past, a minimalist colour palette of white, black and yellow lends a fresh, clean aesthetic to the space.

The new meeting room needed to be an area where ideas could flow, and that would reflect the creativity and professionalism of the team.

The brief

Sometimes when customers approach us with a door commission, they have a precise idea in their minds of what they want, and we create something to fit that brief. For other projects – including this one – it’s very much a collaborative process. We gauge the customer’s likes and dislikes, take on board their visual preferences and factor in their functional requirements, to devise a one-of-a-kind design.

As an agency specialising in creative marketing solutions and modern website development, the directors wanted something non-traditional, which would fit into their established aesthetic and have an immediate impact as visitors entered the space. They approached us before the meeting room walls went up, which gave us greater freedom in imagining a feature door that would deliver real impact.

The door

Taking this basic concept, we worked with the directors to design an unconventional, oversized pivot door that quite literally fits into its surroundings.

By using advanced routing machinery, we were able to create an irregular door shape that tessellates perfectly with the opening and has the same tropical hardwood cladding for the outside panel as the office walls. Similarly, we matched the internal material to the oriented strand board (OSB) effect of the meeting room, making the entryway almost imperceptible from both perspectives when closed.

The pivot mechanism is an exciting alternative to traditional hinges, ensuring a smooth movement and creating a flush effect when closed, which adds to the drama of the door when opened.

For a door like this, the spectacle speaks for itself, and it has proven to be a pivotal design feature within the agency’s quirky office space.