As anyone familiar with Milton Keynes Gallery will already be aware, the facade has undergone quite a dramatic makeover.

It has, of course, been coloured a rather shocking pink in its lifetime, but never before has it been encased in a repeat pattern of imaginary corporate logos. And it's entirely possible that it never will be again.

The perpetrator is Hackney-based artist Richard Woods, whose Flora & Fauna exhibition has been making a bold, striking statement at the Theatre District location since the tail end of June.

Although Richard is an old hand at exhibiting nationally, indeed internationally, this is his first solo exhibition in what can be considered a public space.

And it is a space that he particularly likes: "It's fantastic," says Richard. "I also quite like the slightly strange concept of the gallery being in with stores like Waitrose and WHSmith – I like the idea of all of that branding going on, and a lot of galleries are not usually found in that context," he says.

The exterior certainly screams 'look at me,' but the intention, says the artist, was never to cause an offence, or ruffle feathers: "It's no more full on than loads of things that you see in the shopping centre, is it?" he asks, and simultaneously answers by tone: "I wanted it to stand out in one way, but I also wanted it to fit in as well. The idea isn't for it to be shocking, but more about pulling the art gallery into the world that it already sits in."

This eye-catching exterior was commissioned just for us here in the new city, too. It's a true original: "Physically, it took about two months to make," said Richard who works with a team of three in his studio. "But we have been working on it for about two years, with all of the different designs and playing around with the ideas."

As for the repetition of imaginary corporate branding on there?

"I liked the idea – there is this strange world of people sponsoring public galleries, corporations. When you go into the Tate everything is branded, isn't it?

"I liked that mixture of the branding and the sponsoring of spaces and that kind of sits within all of the other brands that you have got.

"It's a way of bringing the two together, I suppose – the people who want to sponsor art galleries and the fact that you have such a proliferation of brands all over the shopping centre."

When the exhibition draws to a close here, the work becomes redundant, but it won't be obsolete for long: "I like to re-use objects – all of the stuff in the gallery is made up of old floors. It's a bit like laying a carpet and then using the leftovers to carpet the cupboard under the stairs," he reasons.

"I am sure that it will come back to the studio and be stacked up, and it won't exist again as that piece, but it will have another life."

For the moment, it's doing a swell job of attracting attention, just as the artist hoped it would: "Maybe people might wander into the gallery who wouldn't normally," he said.

If you do make strides inside, you will be greeted by a wood-cut printed floor that might not suit more conventional homes – although we would love it! – but it is stunning to the eye. Bold greens and yellows blend with black and white to envelop every last inch of the gallery floor – and that's a lot of space.

Unlike the material on the outside, the flooring does move around, so to speak: "I like the democracy of the same thing going into different spaces..."

Richard has been developing his architectural intervention and transformation for years now, and he's left impressions far and wide – from a Venetian courtyard to New York's Soho region where he produced a mock Tudor frontage, taking a little slice of his home region direct to the Big Apple: "I'm from Chester originally, and I just wanted to take a bit of that aesthetic into New York."

His work certainly sees him travel, but it's not so much about the place he temporarily inhabits as it is about the people he works with: "I know that it sounds terrible, but when you go to all of these places all you do is work," he assures me.

"You could be in the most miserable place, but if the person you are working for is good fun, then it is good fun – whereas you can be in the most beautiful place in the world, but if you spend the whole time up scaffold, you don't really notice."

Artists are known for flair, of course, and we bet that Richard carries his love of art into his own Victorian terraced property. Does he have a collection of the obscure and the colourful?

"I have had," he admits. "But I haven't at the moment because we had a big flood here, and changed it all around. I've got loads of stuff, not that much of it by me, but I've got loads. It's very colourful and I guess not very conventional. I like work where there is a meeting of the idea and the object and the work has to be very visual, otherwise it would be better to be a song or a book or something."

Richard, 42, doesn't view his profession as a 'job' ("I choose to do it, don't I?"), and he admits that the invention of the Blackberry means that he is seldom left alone for long, but when he does step away from the creative office, he has three children to occupy his time, and he shamelessly confesses a liking for makeover TV shows, but then that isn't dissimilar to his profession.

"For me, the way that people make their surroundings inspires me. I'm interested in the different ways that all of us invest our time and effort into houses or flats. Not in the way of judging a style or taste, but in the energy and enthusiasm."

With his art in the public arena, people are always assessing his creations, but how does he himself see his work?

"I like to think of it as not quite art, not quite design and not quite architecture – I think of it as fitting awkwardly between all of the disciplines," he says simply.

Future projects are, unsurprisingly, stacking up nicely, and Richard will have a presence in Liverpool in September, as a part of the City of Culture, but you'll be unlikely to catch him standing next to you at Milton Keynes Gallery any day soon: "I don't really like returning to things after I've done them...it's like returning to the scene of the crime!" he laughs.

>> Flora & Fauna is at MK Gallery until September 21.
Opening times are 10am-5pm (Tues-Sat), Sun 11am-5pm with late night Thursday opening until 8pm. Admission is free.

>> If you do visit the exhibition, be sure to enter the competition to win a Richard Woods bean bag which normally retails at £1,000.