Motionspot brings function and form to accessible design

Designed by Gensler, the future Barclays campus in the Scottish city of Glasgow aims to be its most inclusive workplace ever, accommodating more than 5,000 employees and visitors. Motionspot was commissioned to review everything from restrooms and changing rooms to the floor plan, lighting and finishes of all internal areas. The client was particularly interested in making the campus welcoming to neurodivergent people, including people with autism.

“We thought a lot about the sensory aspects of each space – visual, auditory – and how they impact different individuals,” says Storey. One of the biggest challenges presented by modern workspaces in general, she continues, is the open plan where phone conversations, noise from the nearby kitchen and meetings can “impact concentration, productivity and the work of people”. But it’s not the only noise that can have a negative effect on how someone feels at work, she says; there is also visual noise. “Having lots of patterns and large graphics on the walls or geometric shapes on the floor in rugs can have a really big impact on how someone treats that environment,” Storey says. Arguably the most innovative aspect of the Barclays campus in Glasgow will be a series of recalibration spaces that staff can go to when feeling overloaded or sensory anxious. “It’s a designated quiet room where you can close the door and adjust the temperature, lights and music and just decompress and reset before heading back to your office or meeting,” says Warner.

Inclusive design is the way to go, Taylor says, because it’s hugely beneficial to employee well-being but also, more prosaically but no less importantly, to the business and creative success of the employer. “People are starting to realize the untapped resource and potential of people with disabilities who haven’t been able to participate in work as much as they should have,” he says. It’s the same in the world of hospitality, where forward-thinking companies’ inclusive design details are fantastic for opening up travel to people with disabilities, but also have a positive effect on business bottom lines and reputations.

The Brooklyn Hotel in Manchester is an example. Of its 189 rooms, its two suites with ceiling lifts are the most reserved. That’s because they, and 16 other walk-in or wheelchair-accessible rooms, don’t compromise on aesthetics. For this project, Motionspot designed all accessibility features and products in each of the rooms. This included smart moves like overhead lifts that are concealed in a recessed track when not in use and fitted with an LED light strip. This way, if someone who doesn’t need the lifter uses the room, it becomes a light fixture.

Successes like the Brooklyn Hotel have unlocked additional demand for Motionspot’s design services. Currently, the consultancy is working on the design of another hotel for the same hotel group in Leicester. It also plans to open offices in the United States to carry out a growing series of office audit projects for major global clients in North America. Warner says that may sound perverse, but he hopes that in ten years, specialist companies like Motionspot will no longer need to exist. He says with a smile: “Accessible design should be part of everything people do.