Interior Design School of Design
Morgan Ripley
As an Interior Designer, my focus in the field is the Hospitality Industry. For my final year project, I wanted to create one of these spaces. After working in Hospitality myself, I know that a lot of the designs mainly focus on the customer space, and ignore the staff. I wanted to create a space that would work for both. It needed to be an appealing atmosphere for the customer but be a pleasurable place to work.
The Platform Grove
The Platform Grove- The Botanic Garden Railway Bar
This project aims to create a bar space that can be functional at all times of the day. Due to its location, there is a need for somewhere to go throughout the day when visiting the gardens. For this reason, I wanted to create a design that would work for a quick coffee or a late-night drink. The materials and colours need to work for this purpose. The space is underground, meaning lighting and the entrance are important elements to consider.
I was interested in this type of design as hospitality is my main interest in the interior design field. To create something that has different experiences for anyone that comes to it, is what interests me the most. After working in the hospitality industry, myself, it was also key for me to create a design with the employees in mind too. As the key design details of these spaces are for the customers, I thought it would be an interesting take to design for the staff as well.
The underground bar is not new to Glasgow but having a bar in a Botanical Garden and on an old railway line is something I haven’t seen before. The platforms are an important yet forgotten about section of Glasgow’s history, as it has stayed abandoned for over 40 years. To reinvent this space was something that was interesting to me. I kept the original purpose of the site in mind throughout the design and wanted to make nods to it as well.