Wharton Borough Council Room

hover and pause over the thumbnail photos below for bigger pictures and descriptions

This existing municipal council room space was very utilitarian and bland. It was devoid of any detail or richness that would make it feel like an important public space. Though the room size and location in the existing building are good, it was lacking the needed courtroom feel having no molding, no wood work, and a typical white drop ceiling with 2x4 fluorescent lighting. Most notable was the existing dais that was a couple tables cut and joined at the center, with a front dividing wall that had gray carpet as a finish. Instead of just cleaning up the existing interior the borough wanted to give the entire room a significant facelift and create a more impressive space that would give the feel of a stately courtroom, exuding a warm yet powerful feeling, but still fall within their budget.

Since the interior was already a nice brick finish, the design intent was to clean and reuse the brick and add rich wood elements to completely change the interior feel and appearance while also updating it to current handicapped standards. The resulting design is a more traditional and stately look that establishes a new rhythm and relationship of elements while being cost-conscious and incorporating many of the existing elements. The redesign also incorporated all new improved and more efficient lighting with better controls.

The new design added many detail elements such a wrap around wainscot, antique appearance sconces, and a new ceiling that has a beautiful old world copper ceiling look. The addition of these details took an uninteresting minimalist room and gave it new warmth and character to make it stand out as the most important room in the building.

The addition of new closets enclosed and hid the room’s dual purpose as the printing and copier room as well as the kitchenette, removing the previous exposed clutter. The largest single improvement by far is the new handicapped accessible dais and impressive wrap around low wall incorporating the same detail as the wainscot, and the full height wood back wall and pendant lighting that will now frame the council imparting an impressive and luxurious feel.