Board meetings

by Din Associates

American oak features prominently in the new Joop! fashion store in Hamburg – the first to sport an international retail identity developed by Din Associates. Hardly surprising that the consultancy which helped make it so popular as a floor covering in the Eighties should choose American oak for the Joop! project, but its application in the

Hamburg store has more of a twist than the usual layout of plain boards. Or rather more of a square – the oak, chosen to add “warmth and texture”, features as chequered parquet floor.

This is intermingled throughout the 450m2, two-storey shop with a classy French limestone chosen to “create a cool and sophisticated look”, explains Din director Rasshied Din.

The contrasting materials are used to “create smaller salons” within the store, but the overall intention is to provide a neutral space to enhance the products. Emphasis has also been placed on natural materials. The oak, a sustainable source, points out Din, has been given an oil finish and sealed with wax rather than a synthetic varnish. “The oil finish is more traditional. We wanted a natural quality to it. It’s higher maintenance but then it’s not the kind of shop that gets the same footfall as a high street shop in the UK,” adds Din.

American oak was selected because “of all the timber flooring you can get, American oak is warmer and richer. We’ve used European oak before, but you don’t get the contrast between grains. It’s also very durable, and using it as parquet gives it more texture compared to the linear look of the Eighties,” says Din.

In contrast, the French limestone was chosen because “there is no texture or grain to it”. It provides a “cool, calm and modern look”, though according to Din, if you’re standing directly on it you “can see a variegation and are aware it’s a natural material”.

Supplies of both flooring materials were sourced in the UK because it worked out cheaper, though still totalled a not insubstantial 100 a square foot. Limestone was provided by Stoneage, while CSS supplied the wood. Fitting was carried out by German specialists, and was “done immaculately, probably better than in the UK because they are so precise”, says Din.

Bond Street store by John Pawson

Inspiration for the basement flooring in Jigsaw’s distinctive outlet on London’s Bond Street came from a rather unusual source – a 300-year-old house in Amsterdam. While architect John Pawson was renovating it, he noted with interest that the wooden flooring had lasted pretty well. The wood was Douglas fir, a fast-growing huge tree which results in the production of very long and very wide planks.

The store’s design had to compete with the high fashion flagship stores surrounding it, but Pawson wanted to create a welcoming and comfortable environment rather than an intimidating one. The ground floor presents a “sense of quiet and discreet modern luxury”, with white walls and bush-hammered granite floor.

At 75 per square metre, the granite was chosen because it is “the king of stone; you couldn’t get a harder stone”, claims Pawson. The whitish grey slabs, supplied by Capital Stone in Dublin, are 1.2m2 and have been bush-hammered to give a rougher surface, which is covered with a seal and joined with a stainless steel trim.

“I wanted something a bit different. The stone is reminiscent of temples I’d seen in Japan. I thought huge slabs would make a wonderful floor,” explains Pawson. They are also very heavy, and required expert skill in laying them.

“People say granite is horrendously expensive, but if you find the right source and the right people to lay it, it’s not prohibitively expensive,” says Pawson. The Douglas fir worked out at 100 per square metre. “You can get it up to 15m-long. It’s a pretty colour, a medium pinkish, and it glows. It fuses the colours and is reflected in the walls,” he adds. He is so taken with it that he has also laid it throughout his house, even though he says it’s twice the price of most other woods. Supplies are imported from Denmark and arrive in 12m-long containers – which can make it awkward to manoeuvre around the streets of London.

“I do think very carefully about things before using them,” concludes Pawson on the finished result. And he points out that using such materials successfully is dependent on using the right people to install them. “Part of what I do is finding the right people.” And he’s rather reluctant to give away any names or numbers.

restaurant and brasserie by Lifschutz Davison

“No floor is maintenance-free,” declares Lifschutz Davison director Paul Sandilands. But he’s convinced that the American white oak floor installed in the new Harvey Nichols brasserie and restaurant at the Oxo Tower overlooking the Thames will be easy to maintain and extremely durable.

“There’s no reason why it shouldn’t last for 100 years,” he says, despite the heavy footfall of hoards of diners since the opening of the hip new eaterie this autumn.

The choice of wood is no surprise. American white oak has become more than popular among stylish designers and architects. As Sandilands points out, it’s solid, looks good and provides “very good value for money” at around 40 per square metre. “It makes the space feel very light. It also gives a relatively neutral background. We wanted to use strong colours for the furniture and isolated elements of the design,” he adds.

In total, 800m2 of 22mm-thick board has been used throughout the 500-cover restaurant and brasserie. To accommodate services, under-the-floor-planks have been laid on a Durabella raised floor system, which bought the total cost up to 80 per square metre, and the whole lot was supplied and fitted by Durabella.

Sandilands explains that the flooring for the restaurant was chosen to fit in with the rest of the Oxo Tower, also refurbished by Lifschutz Davison. “There was a palette of materials we’d already used. All external decking on walkways of the tower is oak and there’s some green slate which we’ve also used in the toilets. We didn’t feel we had to do something completely different with it.”

Although American white oak seems to be pretty prevalent, Sandilands points out that not so long ago sycamore and ash were very popular, which are much lighter than oak. “Oak is one of the darker colours of the light white woods, and it will darken with age.” But there are variations with different oaks: “In the toilets we’ve used European oak panelling and you can see the difference. The American white oak is one of the softer colours. People are definitely becoming more broad-minded about different colours of timber.”

Planks have been treated with a varnish to seal and protect them – a must for any restaurant setting. “We’ve used a matt varnish with a clear finish. The idea is it doesn’t look like it’s got any finish on it. The sealants are there to prevent absorption of spillages, especially things like red wine,” concludes Sandilands.