Column: Engineered Wood & Zoning – My Go To Choices!

Monthly Column By Emilio Mudrak

Wood brings the human touch to any corporate fit-out, but it’s also a brilliant tool to guide customers / clients.

I like to treat the plank direction as an arrow: move the graining 90o to signal a breakout space, or switch to a chevron format in the café to add an uplifting feeling.

Colour blocking is another trick. Smoked oak around desking fades into a pale ash corridor, nudging people instinctively toward exits. We use the same methods with tiles, but with added warmth under foot for the engineered boards.

Psychologically, it’s proven that visual zoning reduces decision points and subsequently stress.

Installation wise with modern boards, using engineered multi-ply boards gives much more stability compared with solid boards. An example, it’s possible to float a 220 mm-wide planks across raised-access floors without squeaks. Although we still recommend acoustic matting, it’s cool to know what can be done.

Transitions between your zoning? Using a slim brass T-bar between wood and porcelain keeps cleaning teams happy and avoids any tripping.

Remember: perfect zoning is invisible; people feel it before they see it!

Emilio Mudrak, Director of Mudrak & Sons