We spoke to scientists and teams about what they actually did every day, asking about the good, the bad and the ugly of working life. The tools they used, the processes they followed and the ways they generated and interpreted information became the creative source material for the scheme. Things so familiar to the teams that they barely registered became some of the most interesting opportunities for engagement.

Chromatography, data visualisation, molecular analysis, graphs, apparatus and laboratory tools all became sources of inspiration. Patterns, sequences and rhythms were translated into iconography, graphics, lighting and material choices, while physical equipment was reimagined as installations and moments of interaction. The everyday language of science became the basis for an experience that felt specific to the people and work behind it.

In several locations, decommissioned or adapted laboratory equipment was transformed into large-scale wall installations. Tools normally associated with investigation and analysis were given a new role within the workplace, turning familiar objects into unexpected moments that encouraged curiosity and conversation.

What started in Oxford developed into an ongoing collaboration spanning several years and multiple locations. With each new workplace came different scientific teams, different processes and another opportunity to look closely at the work happening there.

That meant consistency couldn’t come from repeating the same graphics or applying a fixed template from one site to the next. Each environment needed its own character while still feeling unmistakably part of the same organisation.

The answer was consistency in approach rather than repetition in execution. By returning to the people and science at each location, we could create environments that responded specifically to the work taking place while maintaining a recognisable experience across the wider workplace portfolio.

For visitors, the environment creates an immediate connection to the organisation’s scientific capability. For the people working there every day, many of the details reveal themselves more gradually. Processes, data and equipment they know intimately are reinterpreted around them, creating moments of recognition and a workplace that feels genuinely relevant to what they do.

The result is an experience that feels unmistakably scientific without feeling clinical. Precise yet expressive, intellectually engaging but human at its core. Across different locations and different areas of science, the workplaces are connected not because they look the same, but because each begins in the same place: with the people, processes and science already there.