Upfit within Charleston’s multi-tenant mixed-use building 22 WestEdge provided biomedical company Vikor Scientific with laboratory, meeting, classroom, and office space for the company’s expanding operations. Vikor’s programming needs included Biosafety Level 2 laboratory space for clinicians, neuropharmacologists, medical specialists, researchers, and scientists as well as Class A office space for its company C-suite, sales and marketing teams, customer service, supply chain management, and payer relations. The company envisioned their new home as a crisp, clean, and modern space befitting its commitment to cutting-edge scientific research. Interior architecture accommodates a highly varied program within a limited interior space while celebrating Vikor’s sophisticated brand identity. Design cleverly incorporates branding elements in clean materials and finishes appropriate to the sterile requirements of the company’s operations.

Vikor’s interior architecture makes the company’s work immediately evident even before one enters its space. A wide monolithic frameless glass door and window system creates a seamless entry to Vikor’s space, permitting views into the company’s lobby space from the building’s interior corridor. Floor to ceiling windows throughout permit daylight deep into the interior of lab and office spaces. Wide picture window openings in the walls enclosing the accessioners’ space permit borrowed daylight into the space and sightlines to the labs and other offices across the hall. The main lab showcases an angled soffit feature above the viewing windows which includes the company’s logo in a back-lit, solid surface material. Glass walls enclose offices along interior corridors – a central band of frosted film provides some privacy to office occupants without blocking borrowed daylight. Light colored luxury vinyl tile (LVT) in the corridors provides a hygienic flooring material that dampens the sound of foot traffic; the color and wood pattern provide a soothing, natural contrast to the clinical aesthetic that dominates the rest of the space.

Vikor’s interior architecture makes the company’s work immediately evident even before one enters its space. A wide monolithic frameless glass door and window system creates a seamless entry to Vikor’s space, permitting views into the company’s lobby space from the building’s interior corridor.  Vikor’s interior architecture clearly incorporates the shape and form of genetic materials at the heart of the company’s work. The lobby’s tiered pan ceiling incorporates long columns of horizontal fins, punctuated at irregular intervals by narrow strip lights to create a stylized illustration of genome sequencing. This effect is carried through the corridors, where narrow strip lights are again placed irregularly between acoustical ceiling tiles. A textured accent wall in the main corridor makes visual reference to vertical strands of genome sequencing. Long, angled strip lights in the accessioners’ space form stylized chromosomes. Textured accent walls illustrate the vertical strands of genome sequencing, while interlocking patterns in the back corridor wallcovering are reminiscent of DNA’s double helix form. Recessed lobby ceilings and acoustical tile corridor ceilings integrate irregularly spaced strip lights mimicking genetic markers. Strip lights in the accessioners’ space intersect to form stylized chromosomes. A suspended system of hexagonal baffles and light fixtures in the classroom ceiling suggests a two-dimensional representation of chemical compound structure, a callback to Vikor’s hexagonal company logo. 

Fixtures and finishes support the ultra-modern feel of the space while subtly incorporating Vikor’s brand elements. Shades of white and light gray predominate, giving every space a sense of clinical authority and cleanliness. Vikor’s signature light blue appears in the resin floors that unify all lab spaces, providing contrast to the warmth of light-colored, wood-patterned luxury vinyl tile (LVT) in hallways.  Glass interior walls reflect light throughout, making all spaces seem brighter and larger. Up-lit pan ceilings provide additional showcase for Vikor blue.  An accent wall behind the reception desk provides a sharp backdrop for the company’s illuminated logo. An angled soffit feature in the main lab integrates the company’s logo in a back-lit, solid surface material.  

The interior architecture of Vikor’s new home celebrates the company’s mission and brand identity while providing a modern but functional workspace.  

Photography by Mic Smith.