Final Pass Game Lounge Interior Design + Mural

Final Pass Interior Design & Wall Mural

Project Date: 27th March 2023 - 10th April 2023

Project Duration: 2 weeks

Location: Kikoni, Kampala, Uganda

I was contracted to design the interior of a game station. The client was using the same old premises of his former business, a networking company that also trained university interns from a University. The surrounding neighbourhood is dominated by students living in hostels and rentals so there is good traffic. The room is part of an old structure that has not had any renovations for more than 8 years so it was in a pretty bad shape. Unfortunately, the exterior could not be modified as this would

push the budget.

The goal was to create a chill modern space that brings in the diverse young gamers from all around the neighbourhood to a space that also feels cosy enough to hang out with each other like it's a game room at home.

We created a mural for the main wall with the first set of TVs to give the space an artsy feel first and for the rest of the walls, we went with a matte black wall paint and full-scale stickers. Since the walls were black, we chose white ceiling panels and light-grey floor tiles for to balance out the lighting and also installed 5 LED temperature-changing lights.

Challenges we noticed included; high risk of theft of consoles or TVs, heat, dust, being close to the road, large furniture that took up a lot of the space in the room, a limited budget, external noise and the fact that the building was old with rusty iron sheets and a mouldy ceiling. The mould in the ceiling was caused by years of build-up of algae from water leaks through the rusty sheets, something we did not notice until after the first day of installation.

In order to solve the challenges mentioned above, we did the following;

We created metallic frames for the consoles that were drilled into the floor. The flat screen TVs too were welded to the wall via their harnesses and can only be removed by a metal worker, something that would be a noisy and tedious process. Adding in a network of CCTV cameras with direct access to the internet for live feed also helped add another layer of security. A room was also made in one of the corners for a caretaker.

3 fans were installed to keep the room cool when it got too hot.

We brought in potted bamboo to cover up space at the veranda to help reduce the dust and also create external lounging space in the event that there is a large crowd at the game station.

The large main desk that served as a reception area was cut to create more room for larger crowds and more furniture.

For the limited budget, we chose to work with a few local service providers and friends around the neighbourhood, as we focused more on guidance and supervision. We also sourced for products on our own while keeping prices low.

Noise-cancellation proved to be too expensive for the budget so we resorted to just keeping one of the doors closed. This also helped reduce the amount of light that shoots in onto the reflective screens.

We bought new sheets for the roof as a solution for the rusty sheets, thereby solving the mouldy ceiling once and for all.