School of Design & the Built Environment, Curtin University

"Wardle Architects are proud to have worked closely with Forbo on all our education buildings over a 25-year period.

The Marmoleum flooring has provided an elegant foreground to our preferred palette of native timbers, in situ and precast concrete, open ceilings, and acoustic linings. We love its grey-saturation, its low-sheen surface, and the way it can flow from floors, to stairs, and onto walls.

For the Curtin School of Design and the Built Environment we selected Vivace “Cork Tree” for its grey-brown mineral tones. The Cork Tree is used monolithically on a large central corridor and staircase, and a grand terraced breakout space at the base of the southern void.

In combination with a dynamic slotted blackbutt timber veneer ceiling, the floor frames vertical fields of colour – shimmering oxide red cable balustrades, anthracite-coloured acoustic panelling and Forbo “Lettuce Green” bulletin board.

Teaching studios with large pivoting entry doors are lined with Marmoleum Slate “Lakeland Shale” flooring, this time with grey-green-ochre saturated mineral tones. The textured linoleum surface of the shale provides a subtle counterpoint to the more traditional Marmoleum patternation.

An art installation by Janet Laurence floats Western Australian mineral samples across the full height of a majestic concrete void wall, pulling it all together.

As well as the impressive green-star credentials of the linoleum, we really like the way beautiful colours and organic patterns play on the eye, whether that is up close or far away, looking down into the various void spaces from above. Each Forbo colourway is a work of art, making our job a real pleasure!” — Jeff Senior Interior Designer at Wardle Architects.