Roche UK Courtyard

Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire

The vision

Roche’s UK Head Office in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, is centred around an enclosed courtyard that can be seen from all 3 floors of the building.  The team at Roche came to us wanting this courtyard to become a source of pride and pleasure for its 2000 employees.  We were delighted to be asked to design and build this centrepiece for their new premises.

Our insight

Above all else, we felt that the courtyard needed to be both impressive and intimate – a source of inspiration for those at work inside and a haven of relaxation for those using it outside.

The transformation

For people working inside the building, the outside is still strikingly present, with an inner courtyard visible from all aspects of the office. Clean angular lines, bespoke glass screen water features, bamboos and carefully placed rocks create an evocatively peaceful and oriental feel to the space. Precision box cut hornbeam trees and silver birches scattered through the courtyard break it into more intimate zones that encourage moments of quieter contemplation.

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