Natural wood floors create biophilic experience in Austrian headquarters office

Modern interior design is increasingly about one thing: providing a biophilic experience in balance with human beings.

WORKING IN A BIOPHILIC ENVIRONMENT

Bringing nature into your home or simply welcoming you to the office – that’s what biophilic interior design is all about.

This is what happened in Frankenmarkt, Upper Austria, where Starzinger GmbH & Co KG made a conscious decision to use 100% environmentally friendly natural wood floors.

People spend up to 90% of the day in closed rooms and are therefore not exposed to a very healthy indoor climate. The situation is completely different at Starzinger. The large area of open-pored, simply oiled and therefore completely natural oak parquet flooring, enables the employees to reap the benefits of a healthy and self-regulating room climate.

By refining the OAK Country Vulcano Medium with natural oil, the wood pores remain open and can breathe: moisture is absorbed in the room and released back into it.

This noticeably pleasant feel-good climate is exclusively due to the ingenuity of the natural material wood. It’s important to leave the wood in its natural state and not to seal it. The mafi surface does precisely that. 

AN EXCITING MIX OF MATERIALS AND TIMELESS LIVING COLORS: WOOD. GLASS. BLACK. WHITE.

Based in Thalgau, the Upper Austrian team of architects dieplanerei.at - zt. GmbH combined the lively look of the OAK Country Vulcano Medium and its black bonded cracks with modern materials such as glass, and thus successfully combined two worlds: naturalness and modernity.
Large white color areas impart a sense of spaciousness and tidiness. The classic black and timeless anthracite successfully creates contrasts, which can be reflected in the elegant interior alongside ceiling-high door frames.
The central feature is the staircase, made of the same floor material and framed with glass elements. It not only connects two levels, but also acts as a strong eyecatcher and focal point.
In order to underscore the natural, biophilic character of the room concept, lush bamboo and palm plants are interspersed on all office levels - here, too, nothing is left to chance and flowerpots in matte gray tones are incorporated.

THE MAFI THERMAL TREATMENT: A SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE TO TROPICAL WOOD

During the mafi thermal treatment, the wooden planks are gently dried in a chemical-free process using heat, wind, and water. This results in a variety of color nuances, ranging from medium brown to rich dark brown in almost black planks.

In addition to the dark coloring of the boards, the wood is also more resistant to fungus and mold.

The thermal process also minimizes the natural swelling and shrinking behavior of the wood. In addition to all these benefits, the Vulcano process is a real alternative to tropical woods.
In sum, Vulcano floors provide a multitude of beautiful brown tones, without a guilty conscience when it comes to human beings and the environment.