Jon Humphreys & Atul Bansal

In front of us, a neon light glows with the words ‘Love made me do it’, a floor-to-double-height ceiling bookshelf is packed to the rafters with inspiration, and the walls leading to it are covered in images, sketches and designs of live projects.

We were there to meet Jon Humphreys and Atul Bansal from Sheila Bird Studios, a team that are excited by the transformational potential of space, and who believe well-designed places can make people happier and more productive.

Feel certainly plays into the design process at Sheila Bird, Jon says, “There are lot’s of things to think about when we are designing spaces but we are always thinking about how do we want people to feel in the space. Do we want them to feel cozy, secure, alert, social or not social?”

Atul chuckles and says, “Trying to define a single place feel is like nailing jelly to a wall. It has to be about the person. How you feel at 9:00, at 12:00, at 4:00 on Monday or Friday is different. So a place can’t just have one feeling.”

Jon joins in and adds “One thing you can nail down though is permission. Do I feel like I’m allowed here, do I feel like I belong? This is so important because if you don’t feel like you belong in a place, it’s not yours, therefore you don’t respect it, therefore you don’t admire it, you don’t share it. So I think feel or feeling is one of those words that people don’t use very often.”

We expand on the idea of permission and how it manifests itself. For example, how a someone behind a big desk as you enter a building is designed as the first line of defence, ‘You aren’t getting in unless …’ nicely packaged as ‘How can I help you?”. Or the complete opposite, when a public green between city high-rises is adorned with deckchairs, which actively invites people out of the buildings to spend time together in the space.

Technically you don’t need to do much to create a unique place feel, Jon says, “Take an empty concrete box. Add a load of people with some decks and some festoon lights and it feels the most amazing thing. From a design point of view, you’ve done nothing.” Atul interjects and says, “Yeah, but what you have got is some people with the right attitude, with the permission to have a great time.”