A floor can often nudge human behaviours in a public or work space without even using a dividing wall or partition.
Floors are often specified for their acoustic dampening performance or slip resistance, but increasingly we notice spatial designers and Architects want to use the floor as a surface to introduce pattern, features of interest and colour, without the need for a wall. These draw the eye, focus movement and offer an interior's design a further level of interest.
A field of flooring can be as ubiquitous as a ceiling of panel lighting – uniformly laid tiles fill floors the world over, however, adding a feature into the floor is brilliant for decorative design; spaces where people crave a change of mood or privacy across an open-plan workspace for instance.
Changes in floors are mood enhancers – impact creators. Bold pattern can relay an intentional feeling. Or, when spaces are more homely and hospitality focused, a simple swap from plain fields of floor to a patterned area, can be elegant and distinctive.
Sometimes it's possible to indicate a change of use in a space by a change in flooring without threshold strips, furniture or interior partitioning. Using level materials like a Loose Lay LVT and Carpet Tile which are designed to install without thresholds can be a good solution. Alternatively, when one material is proud of the other, straightforward sub-floor chamfering can level out the division line.
Integrating two tones in one product design using a laying pattern works for a simple yet modern spatial change technique.