Harry Beck’s London Underground map continues to exert its influence on contemporary design, this time as the central feature of the re-fitted offices for digital agency, Poke. A striped aluminium cable tray snakes around the space carrying all the unsightly wires over the heads of the workers below and adding a splash of colour to the standard-issue concrete and white. Feeling nosey? Let’s poke around some more (sorry)…

The project cost £360,000, for which architects Quinn kitted out the 850 square metre warehouse space in (of course) Shoreditch – Poke are in the same building as ad agency Mother. “The challenge was,” apparently, “to make the space a memorable, yet hard-working environment for a team of 60 creative staff.”

A continuous concrete wall curves through the space, forming a kitchen and meeting rooms as it goes. As Poke work primarily in digital media, the architects decided to make a feature of the one thing thay can’t do without - the cabling. The aluminium tray runs the full expanse of the office, branching out where the various switch points are located, just like the Underground system.

The tray’s coloured bands also act as a wayfinding system as it flows through the interior; from the lift core and clockwise through a reception area via satellite meeting rooms and a central kitchen to an expansive open plan studio, terminating outside over a south facing terrace.

The meeting room boasts this rather spectacular light installation by Jason Bruges.

Photographs: © Donald Mine

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