Scott Compton is a principal at Warren and Mahoney with a uniquely tailored approach to interior design. He has extensive project experience in workplace, retail, hotels and hospitality, having worked in the United Kingdom, China and New Zealand. Scott is focused on producing innovative environments for renowned brands such as TVNZ, MediaWorks, SkyCity, Chapman Tripp and, more recently, Google.

What’s one of your favourite interior spaces, either here in Aotearoa or abroad, that’s inspired you or your design thinking? 

The Neues Musuem in Berlin by David Chipperfield Architects. As a native Englishmen having grown up surrounded by historic buildings, I have a heightened awareness of sympathetic and innovative renovations. Neues Musuem is war-torn museum that wears its scars and yet inserts some dramatic and contemporary materials to create a truly magnificent experience. The material palette of prefab concrete with marble chips, glass and bronze is a perfect complement to the ornate and ruined fabric. Neues Museum embodies the true power of reuse and the importance of revitalising aging or ruined building stock over building new. It can never be replicated.

If you could design an interior project for anyone, who would it be and why?

It’s less about who, more about the spirit of the client and your relationship. I enjoy collaborating with those who are respectful of our profession and process, and who can offer meaningful insight about themselves or their business, which we can interpret and expand upon to reach something special. Over time, I’ve found that all the projects where we have achieved the most satisfying outcomes have come from a place of trust and confidence in our ability as designers to do what we do well. That is why we are employed after all. I love to paraphrase the Frank Gehry quote: “I don’t know why people hire architects and then tell them what to do.”

What are you looking forward to when judging the Interior Awards 2023?

For me, design is equal part science and emotion. I love a good story and deep consideration of the meaning behind things. We live in an era where knowing your context and the provenance of our choices is foremost in our thinking. Equally, good design should not come at the cost of robust and rigorous testing of the metrics or purpose of the space – good design works incredibly hard and provides an experience to all, right across the board. Lastly, if a project can surprise or make me smile, it’ll win me over every time. Life is too short to miss out on good humour. Tough brief. I look forward to seeing what is out there.

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