The Tara Building, one of Dublin’s premium coworking spaces in the heart of the city centre, recently announced that its Juniper Private Office space on its top floor will receive a refurbishment and is available from 1st May 2021. This beautiful, well appointed and lockable space accommodates six desks and is 20 metres x 20 metres, filled with natural light and views across Dublin city centre skylines. We have more detailed information available here and should you like to have a tour, please contact us and we’d be happy to arrange.
Below is an extended interview with Jill L’Estange, Founder and Creative Director of L’Estrange Designs who is redesigning and refurbishing the Juniper Private Office Suite. We delve deep into how she tackles such a project, what inspires, excites and motivates her. As a Member of our Community, it’s fantastic to work closely with Jill and her team as she has a passion for The Tara Building and its reputation as one of Dublin’s OG co-working spaces – oozing in creativity and talent. We are certain that L’Estrange Designs has created the optimum design for this premium private office space and we look forward to sharing more, once the refurbishment is complete.
Q: Please can you give us a little background profile information on yourself and your design company?
L’Estrange Designs was founded in 2015 by Jill L’Estrange following her return to Ireland after years living abroad, working in architecture and property development. The company was born from a vision to bring exciting and innovative spaces to Ireland, something she had taken a keen interest in while working overseas. Since the beginning, L’Estrange Designs has had a passion to create eye-catching spaces. Carving out a niche in the commercial market, we handle a range of projects, from hotels, restaurants, and bars, to leisure spaces, offices, and small business. We are also based in The Tara Building and have worked on the design of the ground floor offices, so we’re delighted to be working with the Tara team again.
Q: What excites you about the re-design of the Juniper Office at The Tara Building?
As mentioned, we are based in The Tara Building so we’re very excited to see the growth and development within the office spaces. Having a lively and functional office makes work so much more enjoyable, and we really like to give the end user a pleasurable experience in the spaces we design.
Q: What sparked your design imagination for the Juniper Office? What features did you decide to enhance?
Having worked from one of the private offices last year, we had first-hand insight into the possible improvements within the design of the space. We definitely wanted The Tara branding to be clear and cohesive, while making the spaces a bit more fun so we have some vibrant colours paired with the neutral timber finishes that run through the design of the entire building.
Q: How did the location of the office (being on the top floor) impact the design at all?
The office has lots of natural light from the upper level windows, and so we had the opportunity to go with a striking charcoal ceiling, to create a cosy and yet spacious room to work. As the top floor consists of separated offices, we wanted a sense of privacy, and so acoustics came into play also. We included a central rug for the office, as well as sound absorbing fabric dividers between desks that serve both as privacy screens and acoustic panels.
Q: Which design elements did you decide were fundamental to the overall look and feel?
Angled, distressed timber wall paneling is an iconic feature in Tara, so in order to keep the spaces cohesive we agreed to panel the three main walls, while keeping one chalkboard finish wall for functionality (and as a creative space). Storage was also an important aspect of the design, which is why we incorporated lockers as well as open shelving. The addition of plants really brings the space to life, and ties into The Tara Building atmosphere, which we happily refer to as a jungle, due to the beautiful plants Darren has cultivated
Q: What were the biggest challenges you faced in the design? And how did you answer these?
As with every project, the layouts are usually the first and most important step. The challenge here was to include a suitable number of work stations and storage without overcrowding the room so we did a number of layout studies to show how the desks can be arranged to optimise the space.
Q: Where do you get your design inspiration? Which IG accounts are you a fan of…if any?
We get inspiration from a lot of different sources. We obviously follow various design accounts on Instagram, such as AD, Dezeen, Yellowtrace, Yatzer etc., but we also draw inspiration from our travels and everyday life. Design is everywhere, so we like to let our creativity run wild, which means our imagination never sleeps and sometimes results in random epiphanies in the middle of the night, but that’s the fun part of this career!
Instag – @Lestrange_designs
Facebook – @Lestrangedesigns
Email – contact@lestrangedesigns.ie
Website – L’Estrange Designs
