Eureka! - the National Children’s Museum - recently redeveloped its largest gallery to provide a playful and open environment for its energetic young visitors.
Created using the water cutting technology Aquajet, Forbo’s Marmoleum was specified in a large variety of shades to inject a shot of playful colour into the gallery’s floor.
A combination of bright colours from Forbo’s Marmoleum sheet and tile collections, including colourways such as Blush, a bubblegum pink, and Charteuse, a vibrant grassy green, were installed in the new ‘All About Me’ gallery which opened last year and has since attracted over 245,000 visitors.
“Eureka! - now approaching its 22nd year - has had more than six million visitors enjoy its six galleries, café and gift shop since opening in 1992. However the interior had slowly started to show its age and needed a complete redevelopment and new exhibition content to bring it back to life again,” commented Ned Phillips, Architect from At Large.
“We needed everything within the space to be of the highest quality in terms of aesthetics and materials used. The museum required a floor design that reflected the lively nature and playfulness of the gallery and, therefore by using Forbo’s Marmoleum we made the flooring a stand out feature for the attraction.”
The floor design was created using Forbo’s Aquajet water cutting technology, where designs are cut out of Marmoleum, which can then be installed seamlessly together – allowing specifiers to place different coloured floor coverings side by side in complex patterns.
David Loud, Estimator at Paynters Flooring Service, the contractors on this project, said: “When I saw the brief for Eureka! I knew Mamoleum would fit the bill perfectly. Allowing us freedom to be creative with patterns and designs to produce real character and presence within the gallery.
“One of the designs called for tiles to be installed in a linear pattern using two different shades of green to produce a mowed grass effect. We suggested to At Large that we use tiles instead of sheet Marmoleum, as it would substantially reduce the overall cost and installation time, whilst still maintaining the desired design and appearance. Forbo’s Aquajet technology was also used to produce flooring motifs that spelt the word ‘me’ in white within bright pink circles, which are situated around the ‘All About Me’ gallery.”
Made from 97% natural raw materials, Marmoleum is coated with Topshield2, a double layer water-based finish that provides protection against scuffing and dirt, as well as being resistant to stains and chemicals, helping to ensure that the maintenance of the flooring will be minimal, whilst creating a safe and healthy indoor environment.
Additionally, Marmoleum is the only resilient floor covering to have been awarded the ‘Seal of Approval’ from Allergy UK helping the museum to create a healthier indoor environment for its thousands of visitors.
Tudor Gwynn, Eureka!’s Projects Director, concluded: “We have around 275,000 visitors a year, so we knew we required an imaginative product that offered the highest quality in terms of design and durability.
"Forbo’s Marmoleum was perfect for this project, as it enabled us to be creative with the flooring, as well as meeting our practical hygiene and cleaning requirements.”