Milliken & Company’s new flooring showroom in San Francisco serves as both a living lab and a hub for the Bay Area design community. Reflecting the firm’s commitment to innovation, ethics, and sustainability―both in its flooring products and its overall philosophy―the team designed a space that embodied the highest levels of health and wellbeing while leveraging the showroom to communicate Milliken’s ethos. This compact interior renovation creates a highly versatile and welcoming space that introduces customers to Milliken and its products.
With its high ceilings, open-plan layout and elongated floorplate, the showroom is devised as a long, flowing gallery that is broken into distinct “vignettes” that highlight either a specific product family or Milliken’s company history. These niches provide an intimate space for small group meetings and the entire showroom can accommodate up to 100 people.
Furthermore, the interior’s concrete columns and ceilings are kept bare to showcase a selection of products that stand out on the walls. Even the floor’s hard surface concrete and interchangeable carpeting feature Milliken’s own products. The showroom also incorporates a conference room, a quiet room and a café for entertaining guests or hosting events.
As one of the first WELL v2 Platinum-certified projects in the world, the showroom defines a new standard for health and wellbeing design. Sustainable elements that support good indoor air quality, individual control for lighting, temperature, and acoustics, and overall user comfort (among many others) are incorporated into the design. Milliken even hosts weekly yoga classes in the showroom.
Overall, the showroom serves as an education tool for the design community, not only through the display of Milliken’s products but also by demonstrating the value of sustainable design strategies that enhance health and wellbeing.

Photography: David Wakely