Biometrics House: Where Innovative Technology Takes On a Human Face

What stands out about Innovatrics’ new headquarters isn’t that it’s packed with cameras and scanners. It stands out because the design itself is inspired by a fingerprint. A.M. Architects translated the curved ridges you’d see under a magnifying glass on your thumb into a building full of rounded forms, anchored by a sculptural spiral staircase.

Where you might expect a technology company to build in glass and steel, Innovatrics chose something warmer. Timber, soft-toned concrete, greenery throughout the lobby – and above it all, a ceiling that moves with the curved shape of the atrium instead of working against it.

That ceiling is where Hunter Douglas Architectural came in. The brief: deliver 1,375 m² of custom ceiling that would support the architecture while bringing sound under control in large, open spaces.

The solution combined two products. HeartFelt® Baffles, custom-cut in 40 x 150 and 40 x 75 mm, follow the rhythm of the spiral staircase and the galleries around it. In the more linear parts of the lobby, HeartFelt® Linear was used, adapted to a 40 x 105 mm size. Both in the same cream colour, 7575, so the ceiling reads as one continuous surface rather than a collection of separate elements.

Felt absorbs sound well, is lightweight, and – important in a building full of curves – can be shaped and custom-fabricated relatively easily. The result is a ceiling you don’t immediately register as a “ceiling” when you walk in. It’s part of the building’s shape, not something laid on top of it.