Oteha Valley School recently unveiled its impressive three-level building, a new addition to their school. What sets this project apart is its unique design concept, which beautifully incorporates Interface's Aerial Flying Colours collection, featuring custom-made colours that represent different elements of nature. The ground floor embodies the earth with warm, earthy tones in the accent-coloured tiles, while the first floor symbolises a grand tree with lush green accents. Finally, the second floor represents the sky with calming blue tones in the accent-coloured tiles.

Interface's Aerial Flying Colours collection was chosen not only for its aesthetic appeal but also for its practicality. The collection features durable grey base tiles with a forgiving pattern, making it perfect for high-traffic areas. This choice was particularly essential for a school setting, where dirt, food spills, and messes are a common occurrence. Moreover, the collection offers a wide range of accent colours, providing ample opportunities for customisation. Importantly, the competitive pricing of Interface's flooring products allowed the project to stay within budget without compromising on design or quality.

In a strategic move, Interface's Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) was chosen for later stages of the project to replace expensive timber flooring products. This decision resulted in significant cost savings, exceeding 50% of the original budget. Additionally, the LVT contributed to better acoustic performance on the stairs while maintaining the desired aesthetic effect. To cater to specific needs, Forbo's Sphera Energetic Vinyl was selected for the toilet and kitchenette areas.

The design concept, with its three distinct levels and the central "big tree" theme, perfectly resonated with the school's vision. The soft colour textures of blues, greens, and yellows harmonised seamlessly with the central tree structure. The tree served as a focal point, surrounded by seating for children and featuring leaves that extended across the ceiling. These design elements complemented the wooden accents found throughout the classroom, including study nook areas and divisions, contributing to a modern, open classroom look that simultaneously provided a comfortable and inviting learning environment. The use of these colours on different levels converged on the main stairs, creating unique colour areas and visual interest. To protect the interior, Interface's Step Repeat Collection was employed for entrance matting, seamlessly transitioning into soft, dark grey tones that permeated the open-plan classrooms.

In total 1,580m² of Interface carpet tile was used in this new block at Oteha Valley School. The decision to choose, Interface’s carbon Neutral Certified flooring options resulted in the retirement of 14 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide from our world. By choosing Interface’s Carbon Neutral Floors for this project GHD Design have ensured that there is less carbon in our atmosphere and we're a step closer to creating a climate fit for life for our future generations.

Congratulations to GHD Design on such an incredible result and thank you for choosing Interface and Forbo flooring.