As businesses across Lagos State seek functional and adaptable workplaces, commercial interior designer, Micah G. Oluwadare, has demonstrated how existing properties could be given new purpose through thoughtful interior transformation.
Citing Capricorn Digital Limited example, Oluwadare, who is the founder/principal designer of Buckeye Interior Limited, narrated how a former residential staff-quarters building was converted into a functional corporate technology workspace.
Rather than demolishing the existing structure or treating the property as a blank canvas, he said the project focused on understanding the building’s limitations and reorganising its interior to support the company’s operations.
‘The transformation incorporated workstations, meeting spaces, technology-related areas and spaces that encourage staff interaction. Elements such as circulation, furniture arrangement, lighting, acoustics and privacy were considered alongside the company’s functional requirements and corporate identity,’ he said.
Oluwadare said the value of an existing property should not be measured solely by its size or location.
‘Every existing building has limitations, but those limitations can also create opportunities,’ he started. ‘The designer’s responsibility is to understand the building and find a way to make it work for the organisation.’
He said that the Capricorn Digital project illustrated the potential of adaptive interior design in commercial real estate.
Instead of starting again with a new building, he explained that an existing property could be reconfigured to meet changing business requirements.
For businesses, he said the approach could provide an opportunity to create workplaces that reflect how their teams actually work.
Oluwadare believes the interior of a commercial property should therefore be considered an important part of its overall value.
‘The goal is not simply to make a space attractive,’ he explained, adding, ‘It is about understanding how people use the space and making the available property work better for them.’
According to him, the project highlighted a broader shift in how existing commercial buildings can be viewed: not simply as fixed structures, but as spaces with the potential to evolve alongside the businesses that occupy them.