ViBe Student Accommodation is sited on Cambridge Road and a brisk 10 minute walk into the historic centre of Kingston upon Thames.
Fuse were approached by AKII Property Investments Ltd in early 2016, when the 276-room scheme was already on site. The brief was to come up with an exciting design for the entire ground floor space, the outdoor courtyard area and the communal kitchen areas of the cluster studios on the upper bedroom floors. Our solution was to create a series of different personalities for the key front of house areas – reception, meet, play, relax, work, kitchen and cinema. The Fuse scope included all of the interior design, all fixed and lose furniture, feature light fittings and the final ‘dressing’ of the spaces.
To further enhance the overall design approach to the scheme, Fuse introduced a graphic design company called Mr.M from Manchester, to create a completely new brand for the client. Mr.M introduced the idea of ‘ViBe’ as the new identity for the project.
The ViBe brand quickly integrated itself into every aspect of the scheme – from the welcoming signs in reception through to the colour scheme and branding on the pool tables and the ViBe website! The dressing of the spaces focused heavily on a London theme with a unique union jack flag being created in the reception area form English tea cups! The ideas flowed and running tracks, rowing boats, tennis balls and large graphic prints were all utilised to further embed the brand within the communal spaces.
