Indesign - Issue 62

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Robert Frost once said, “The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.” Whilst the American poet might have nourished a particular antipathy for working in a regimented environment, he is by no means alone in the sentiment.

Therein lies the inherent contradiction in the vocational spaces we create—just as some diseases prosper almost exclusively within hospitals, offices are blamed for impeding the productivity of their workers. Consequently, enormous quantities of time, money and mental activity have been expended trying to create working environments that promote productivity, or at least do not hinder it.

In Indesign #62—our workplace focus issue—we take stock of where this has gotten us, and throughout its pages our discussion ranges from what the current schools of thought in office design reflect about larger social and economical issues (Comment, pp.54-55), to critique on what is left once the buzzwords have passed out of fashion (Zone, pp.187-189) and a showcase of six excellently designed workplaces (Portfolio - Commercial , pp.88-140).

Worth noticing throughout these is that whereas the office was until recently a place where the spontaneity and heterogenous nature of its human occupants was to be disciplined and standardised, these same qualities are now valued and encouraged.

This is reassuring, and ultimately just, for too easily the trinkets and trappings of progress drown out its true purpose, and we find the tail wagging the proverbial dog.

letter from the editor issue 62, 2015

LoR enzo LogI – M A nAgI ng edIToR A LICe BLACk Wood – MeLBou R ne edIToR

left Melbourne Editor, Alice Blackwood and Managing Editor, Lorenzo Logi

Strain Armchair

Design by Simon Morasi Pipercic

ISSUE 62

REGULARS PORTFOLIO

027 EVOLVE

Bite-sized portions from the latest people, places, products, events.

058 INTERFACE + INDESIGN

Interface launches its ‘Beautiful Thinking’ campaign with the fi rst of four creative collaborations with young designers.

061 FUSE

Stephen Todd speaks with leading light designers on how lighting can contribute to a workplace environment.

073 ALL IN THE FAMILY

Born as an immigrant’s dream in 1956, the Fanuli brand is defined by a core set of values passed on from father to sons, and close-knit bonds of kinship.

080 LUMINARY

Across 34 years of practice, Peter Stutchbury has artfully demonstrated his own vision of what architecture in Australia can be.

169 PULSE

The late German architect Frei Otto was the father of a radical structural approach based on effi ciency and natural forms.

Ronan Bouroullec talks on selectivity in collaboration, disguising high tech, and hoping to find his products in flea markets of the future.

The Dutch Muji of design, Scholten & Baijings are a breath of fresh air for the design industry.

179 ZONE

South America’s gardens are uniquely beautiful, and should serve as inspiration for landscape architecture closer to home.

Many buzzwords of workplace design have been abused. However, promoting interaction, choice and community remain key drivers in creating better offices.

192 PS

Google’s new Mountain View headquarters by Bjarke ingels Group with Heatherwick Studio has been designed as a neighbourhood that embeds itself within the site’s surrounding natural environment and local community.

COMMERCIAL

090 Transgrid, Sydney, Bates Smart

098 REA, Melbourne, futurespace

110 Karara Capital, Melbourne, Molecule

116 Sound Cloud, Berlin (Germany), Kinzo

126 Interactive, Melbourne, Arnold Lane

134 Corrs Chambers, Brisbane, Bates Smart

RETAIL

142 The Woolstores Alexandria, Sydney, Gray Puksand, Woods Bagot and The World is Round

CIVIC

148 Te Uru Art Gallery, Auckland (New Zealand), Mitchell & Stout Architects

RESIDENTIAL

153 Water Factory House, Melbourne, Andrew Simpson Architect

SUSTAINABLE

161 William McCormack Place 2, Cairns, CA Architects and Cox Rayner Architects, QGAO

COVER Dutch designers Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings.

Photo: Freudenthal/Verhagen

DIRECTORY

INDESIGN

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072 Abey Australia abey.com.au

168 Advanta advanta.com.au

185 Astra Walker astrawalker.com.au

026 At Work With Camira atworkwithcamira.com

IBC Bolon bolon.com.au

006-007 CaesarStone caesarstone.com.au

044, 147, 191 CDK Stone cdkstone.com.au

152 Chair Solutions chairsolutions.com.au

078-079 Corian CASF casf.com.au

160 Cosentino Group silestoneoceania.com 037 CULT cultdesign.com.au 030 Dauphin dauphin-group.com

Dekton dekton.com

Didier didier.com.au 012-013 Domayne domayne.com.au

133 Elton Group eltongroup.com

159 English Tapware englishtapware.com.au

022 Euro Natural Stone euronaturalstone.com

073-077 Fanuli Furniture fanuli.com.au

060 Gibbon Group gibbongroup.com.au 165 Good Environmental Choice Australia geca.org.au 024-025, 066-071 Herman Miller Australia hermanmiller.com.au

Hotbeam hotbeam.com

iGuzzini iguzzini.com

IMO Group imo.co.nz

132 Instyle instyle.com.au

Interface interface.com.au

Krost Business Furniture krost.com.au

Kayt Village. Intelligent Furniture.

Cabana developed by Schiavello in Australia, designed by Ivan Woods. Adding value to environments, coupling dynamic ways of working with technology.

LATERALO RING LED

Innovative optics for prestigious spatial light

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managing EditOr

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CrEativE dirEC tOr

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DEKTON. UNLIMITED.

BEYOND THE WALL by DANIEL LIBESKIND

“My first thought about Dekton was that it was full of character, an intrinsic character that is as deep as natural stone but with a totally innovative shape and with improved properties in compacting, resistance and also of course, extra big size.”

Daniel Libeskind

EURO NATURAL STONE

DESIGN

IndesIgn Correspondents

Stephen Crafti (Melbourne), Mandi Keighran (London), Sylvia Robeck (Berlin), Christine Schaum (Munich), Jon Scott Blanthorn (Toronto), Darlene Smyth (Singapore), Andrea Stevens (New Zealand)

LIghtIng edItor André Tammes

ContrIbutIng WrIters

Leanne Amodeo, Stephen Crafti, Philip Drew, Marg Hearn, Jan Howlin, Nicky Lobo, Tempe Macgowan, Paul McGillick, Andrea Stevens, Howard Tanner, Stephen Todd, Sophia Watson

ContrIbutIng photographers

Tyrone Branigan, Anthony Browell, Brett Boardman, Marcus Clinton, Simon Devitt, Nicole England, Leonardo Finotti, Christopher Frederick Jones, Freudenthal/Verhagen, Arthur Hitchcock, Werner Huthmacher, IL Archiv, Masano Kawana, Morgane Le Gall, Shannon McGrath, Fred McKie, Michael Moran, Alessandro Paderni, Inga Powilleit, Luc Remond, Research Group for Microbiology Berlin, Tim Robinson, Donn Salisbury, John Seymour

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with Camira

LIGHT THE WAY

Portable and rechargeable, FollowMe, designed by Inma Bermúdez for Marset, may just be the perfect portable task light. Compact and small, FollowMe can be taken wherever you go—outdoors and in. It also works in restaurants and terraces that have no access to electrical outlets. Designed using a dimmable LED with oak handle which just beckons to be picked it up.

Inlite inlite.com.au

people places p RoDUc T s even T s

Curated by Alice Blackwood, Melbourne Editor of Indesign

our guest editor

BAtes sMA rt studio direCtor , BreN toN sM ith, sh A res his six top speC s For the Moder N Wor K pLACe .

LIGHTING ROYALTY

The secret to this design classic lies in the geometric construction of its shapes: the cone on the cylinder and the semi-sphere above all. Designer Vico Magistretti has created Atollo as a luminous sculpture from which nothing can be removed—nor added. “It has beautiful proportion,” says Brenton.

Euroluce euroluce.com.au

TImeLess LuxuRY

Designed by Rodolfo Dordoni for Minotti, the Aston chair envelopes the body, inviting you in to experience innate elegance, comfort and a timeless sense of luxury. “I like the simple curves, the scale, and the adaptability of this piece,” says Brenton. “It works well in any reception or living room.”

Dedece dedece.com

BoNZA BroNZe

designed and manufactured in Australia by BA r Ber A, this Bronze table features a solid sand cast bronze base which can be polished, finished or powder-coated and paired with your choice of stone or timber top. Custom finishes and tabletop shapes are also available. Brenton’s preferred combination of marble and bronze is not only timeless but showcases the table’s beautiful craftsmanship.

Catapult Design catapultdesign.net.au

MODUS OPERANDI

The Wilkhahn Modus task chair offers workers and designers alike a “simple, elegant” workplace solution that is “minimal and uncomplicated.” Modern—but not fashionable, obvious—but not dominant, high quality—but not extravagant: all this in first-rate ergonomic design. It has it all.

Wilkhahn wilkhahn.com

Designed by Antonio Citterio for Flexform, the Feel Good stool is characterised by generous dimensions, an unmistakable round seat and a comfortable cushion to complete the composition. It is defined by its harmonious proportions and luxe-glam combination of Italian leather and polished metal legs. “It is the only stool I have ever found that is both beautiful and comfortable,” says Brenton.

Fanuli fanuli.com.au

gold sTAndARd

“This is the perfect accessory for any good boardroom,” says Brenton. The Becker & Minty Two Level Gold Toned Drinks Trolley suggests a playful and not-so-subtle throwback to the Mad Men-esque office accoutrements of decades passed. Featuring smoke glass shelves cut to precision in a deco-style oval, topped off with a catchy and somewhat nostalgic stainless steel golden frame.

Becker & Minty beckerminty.com

THe iTAliAn JoB

VERY FINE LINE

The visual lightness of accursio’s cross-shaped base belies its solid steel construction. Created by La Cividina with Sicilian designer a ntonino Sciortino, the a ccursio collection provides decorative islands and stable tables for all manner of spaces.

Own World ownworld.com.au

As good As iT soUnds

Muffle by Okamura is a series of sound-absorbent office systems that promote a quiet environment for focused work and concentrated communication. Providing sound-absorbency of up to 500Hz, designs range from partitions and path dividers to cubicles—the perfect padding for open and closed working spaces.

UCI uci.com.au

sURFAce vAlUe

Smeg’s SmartSense induction cooktop range is another milestone in Smeg’s nearly 70-year history of breakthrough cooking technology with style. All SmartSense induction cooktops feature Surface Share with large rectangular inductors, which optimise the whole surface. As with professional cooking you can use any number of pans on the shared surface and an Active Surface Control system automatically illuminates the relevant power control, no matter where on the surface the pan is placed.

Smeg smeg.com.au

Fly.

EVERYTHING IN MODULATION

Danish furniture-maker, Softline, unveils the new Opera sofa system by busk+hertzog. The system is modular with compact dimensions, simple lines and a clear separation of the seat and back elements. With its modular system, the Opera sofa can be configured in many ways and upholstered in various colour and fabric combinations.

CULT cultdesign.com.au

BALANCING ACT

SoFi (Stand-Out/Fit-In), is the latest task chair from Scandinavian Business Seating’s renowned HÅG label. SoFi’s unique inBalance, forward tilting mechanism follows its user and encourages constant movement. An International Good Design Award winner in 2015, and a designer favourite at home in Scandinavia, SoFi is now available in all its customisable glory in Australia.

Scandinavian Business Seating sbseating.com

QUITE PIN-TERESTING

Designer Ichiro Iwasaki explores ideas connected with continuity and comfort through this collection of PIN lamps for Vibia. The physical elements of the lamp have been re-imagined to address the new realities of LED technology. The base, a rounded metal disc, becomes a counterweight, the supporting column a slender pin. Meanwhile the shade responds to the scale of the LED diode—because it simply doesn’t need to be any larger.

KODA Lighting kodalighting.com.au

PoP And locK

As more and more workplaces adopt flexible, agile working models, the supporting facilities must adapt to accommodate the same philosophy. Personal storage takes on a whole new dimension with POP. This mobile unit includes a pen tray—because even paperless offices need to sign documents.

A4 files run left to right, foolscap files run front to back. A safe place to ‘pop’ your personal items, it is fully-lockable. POP is available in an unlimited amount of colours to get your creative ideas flowing, you can even capture them on your personal white board strategically placed under the seat.

CSM csm-office.com.au

FULL TILT

Studio Dossier is a boutique furniture company that designs and sources unique and whimsical pieces like the TILT. This dynamic product is ideal for multiple applications in the changing landscape of softer, more enlivened commercial environments. Available in a polypropylene or plywood finish.

Studio Dossier studiodossier.com.au

THe oFFice sTAR

Created by technology leader Samsung, Staron® Solid Surfaces is crafted from a natural and pure mineral derived from bauxite ore and blended with an advanced pure acrylic resin, resulting in a truly premium surface material. When it comes to office environments Staron ® is a real all-rounder. It can be used to create desks, toilet partitions, bathroom vanities, tabletops, corridor and office lobby wall paneling, kitchenettes and furniture. For a continuous look, clad your entire reception desk—top, front and sides! Staron® staron.com.au

MOLTO BENE

Studio Bagno’s collection of Fima taps exemplifies the qualities for which Italian manufacturing is renowned. There is always a disciplined elegance and in Fima’s case it is teamed with a rigorous marriage of technology and craftsmanship guaranteed to excel in every application. For the australian market, Fima has included German aerators and cartridges to complement its crafted chromed brass body.

Studio Bagno studiobagno.com.au

timber And ore

The Uncino collection continues Mattiazzi’s collaboration with the Bouroullecs, and explores the idea of sculpting wood—both by hand and with numerically-controlled milling machines. These gently carved wooden pieces are held in place by bent metal rods—while wood remains the main actor, the metal parts play a fundamental role in the construction. The metal structure joins the pieces of wood in an almost organic overlap. The wood embraces the metal rods whose form subtly appears on the wooden surface like a prominence.

DISTRICT district.com.au

hybrid heAd office

Designed by Kerry Phelan and the KPDO team, the recently re-invented Winspear showroom in Collingwood, Melbourne, is much more than a good face-lift. The design was primarily undertaken to move away from its single use as a showroom, to become a “hybrid company head office, showroom and workspace studio all in one. Not just a showroom,” says Winspear Group director, William Winspear. In addition, the showroom component of the re-design showcases Winspear’s Listone Giordano hardwood flooring products. Contrasting the highly finished and very beautiful product with the surrounding warehouse style space, the KPDO team proposed a ‘white paint bomb’ with a few refined insertion pieces. These include pale linen curtains for partitions, a custom-designed white monolithic desking system, a Tom Dixon stone handle to spruce up the timber clad, and a stunning Listone Giordano services pod.

Winspear Group winspear.com.au

ONE FOR THE MILLENNI

Ultra-light, ultra-jointed and ultra-technological, the Tivedo lamp by Sebastian Bergne for Luceplan, is part of a new generation of LE technopolymer, are joined and arranged thanks to an original two-way pantograph system that allows for the widest range and variation of movement, ensuring balance and stability.

JSB Lighting jsblighting.com.au

Turning faceless mass-production on its head Dutch furniture company Spoinq works with established designers and emerging talent to create character-filled, top quality designs, giving you the opportunity to express your personal style by customising your own designer chairs and tables, fit for any and all purposes.

Spence & Lyda spenceandlyda.com.au

BesPoKe lUminosiTY

The Pin Up wall and ceiling lamp by Studio Italia Design is an intelligent mix of technology and form. The light accents are enclosed in the pared-back design and, once released, are free to shine at your command with the simplicity and beauty of the warm, dimmable LED source. With uncompromising progress in technical development, Pin-Up also addresses key areas of efficiency, quality and price-performance ratio in its design.

Studio Italia studioitalia.com.au

HAve iT YoUR WAY

move it

Boss Design continues to innovate with the launch of Trinetic, a unique task chair that incorporates a brand new type of movement to create a superior and completely natural user experience. Where most posture improving chairs require a degree in ergonomics to use, the Trinetic has no manual user adjustments. Instead, it uses three independent pivot points to shadow even the subtlest of body movements.

Chairbiz chairbiz.com

JUST THE STa PLES

Informed by British heritage, each piece in Tom dixon’s Cube series is designed for work and play. Made from zinc alloy, this handy product family is stripped back to its bare essentials and finished in d ixon’s signature copper plate. The Cube series is a truly robust set of design artefacts for the modern desktop or the sophisticated study.

Tom Dixon tomdixon.net

A PoWeRFUl AllY

New to Atdec’s SYSTEMA™ modular display mounts is the Intelligent Power Module. Beneath the module’s elegant exterior are two 10A power sockets and dual USB outlets, providing the latest in universally compatible fast charge technology. The power module integrates seamlessly at the monitor’s base to optimise work space, while ergonomics are enhanced by moving the power outlets above the desk.

Atdec atdec.com.au

smARt PAck Age

Among Woven Image’s newest sustainable screen solutions is the Echo Panel Wrap and Echo Panel Paling. The screens combine in multiple design configurations to achieve customised solutions that offer superior environmental performance and contribute to sustainable interior designs. Echo Panel is produced from recyclable PET, is Green Tag certified and low VOC.

Woven Image wovenimage.com

BRYDIE sofa collection

sPRings eTeRnAl

Zucchetti’s HIM collection by Roberto+Ludovica Palomba started with the intention to create a radical object: a geometry from which water springs with all its energy. The outcome of this architectural genesis is a light, absolute product that speaks to the slender geometries of contemporary basin design. HIM is also a project with a green soul: its no-frills design enabled a significant reduction in the use of metal while also reducing water consumption.

Streamline streamlineproducts.com.au

locKed And loAded

xLocker 2 is the latest addition to the Planex family, introducing a unique steel storage solution for activity based environments and spaces that require end-of-journey storage for commuters and transient workers. This personal locker features a built-in hollow void that allows for soft wiring, powering of laptops and portable devices, and installation of hard-wired locking systems. A new patented joining system means faster assembly on site, and easy reconfiguration and re-use of steel lockers.

Planex planex.com.au

NaTUR a L INSTINCT

Premiered at this year’s ISH bathroom fair in Germany, Globo’s new palette of ceramic colours includes 14 natural hues that shift from delicate, light pastels through to tonal greys, greens and brown. This latest proposition brings fresh perspective to modern bathroom design, encouraging subtle personalisation and customisation through selective colour choices.

Wet Design wetdesign.com.au

FOR LOVERS OF FINE OAK

Nueve Eterno floorboards feature a heavily whitewashed stain, delivering the natural quality of fine European Oak for Transurban by HASSELL.

Tongue n Groove™ floorboards are designed with three solid layers of fine European Oak for optimal finish, longevity and structural integrity. tonguengrooveflooring.com.au

At hoM e with hA nsen A n D hAyon

At this ye A r’s Mil A n Design FA ir, DA nish

F urniture br A n D Fritz hA nsen

AccoM pA nieD the rele A se oF A new Dining

A n D lounge ch A ir by JA i M e hAyon with A soF ter, More welcoM ing showrooM Feel.

Words Lorenzo Logi

Set amidst the carefully effortless tableau of stylist c hristine r udolph’s transformed Fritz hansen showroom in Milan, Jaime hayon is typically energetic, animating the space with his vivacity.

“ we’re presenting two chairs here,” he begins, “one is the armchair called Fri, and it’s called Fri because it is about freedom. it’s about turning around—it’s much more inviting, and less closed as a cocoon, and it’s another situation, a situation where you would put two chairs in front of a sofa instead of putting one chair off to the side. it’s much more social, for conversation and moving around.”

Down on one knee, the spaniard traces Fri’s contours with a hand, explaining, “you feel immediately that it’s not that we cut it, we tried to make it low and a little bit recessed, so we got this aesthetic that’s inviting you to sit much more quickly.” t hen, sitting into the chair, “ t here’s something important which is that when you sit down, you’re much more – you see how i put my leg? you can sit at an angle as

well, so the elbow is in the right area, so if you want to move around, you can move, and it doesn’t fill the space visually.”

Moving to the next furniture setting, hayon pulls one of the new sammen dining chairs from under an Analog table: “ t he idea is—well the chair is called sammen and it means ‘together’. we did a version with and without armrests, with the wood legs; it’s again a progression of the concept of upholstery.

Fritz hansen didn’t have a chair like that, they always had either a plastic chair or they the series 7.”

Read the full story at indesignlive.com/athomewithhansenandhayon

Lorenzo Logi is Managing Editor of i ndesign .

Above Sammen and Fri (far left and left, respectively), along with classics of the Fritz Hansen family

top At Spence & Lyda’s Sydney showroom, Indesign magazine’s Managing Editor, Lorenzo Logi with Emma Elizabeth (Emma Elizabeth Design), David Caon (Studio Caon), Georgia Hickey (SJB Sydney)

above At Jardan’s Melbourne showroom, Leo Terrando (SJB Interiors), Narelle Cuthbert (Plus Architecture, Celina Clarke (ISM Objects) speak with Indesign Melbourne Editor

Alice Blackwood right ‘Movements’, an installation at Palazzo Serbelloni by Caesarstone with designer Philippe Malouin opposite Tom Dixon

get R eal

IndesIgn’s

Words Sophia Watson

Never mind the ubiquitous—and greatly tiresome—trend forecasting and colour projections that predictably litter our inboxes post-Milan. the time-honoured salone del Mobile has copped a bit of flack in recent years— and why shouldn’t it? we lift up those who have the best photography and the newest, shiniest products regardless of actual substance, and then wonder when the fair lost its spice?

blogs, websites, newsletters and just about anyone with an iPhone during this week are to blame here, only managing to show the polished side of the fair; the picture of Patricia uquiola sitting in her latest edition and colour choices for the Roll chair, or Philippe starck trying to board a train. how is this kind of coverage valuable to anyone?

In our quest for recognition in a densely crowded market, we’ve forgotten to look at the Milan f urniture fair any deeper than the superficial—focused on trying to please everyone, and perhaps really pleasing no-one. a nd that is why Milan has been bullied on the playground.

the recent Indesign Milan Review was created as a kind of antidote to this onslaught of staged, meaningless images, posed for by people and brands that only represent less than one per cent of the entire fair. here, the discussion aimed to avoid the common pitfalls of ‘my favorite colours this year’ and ‘celebrity sightings’ and focused more on the real, gritty elements of Milan 2015 and—beyond product—what we as an industry should really be taking from it.

the panelists raised some critical points in their review of this year’s fair, including: is the fair getting too big?, the salone verses the fiera and whether Milan is even that relevant anymore.

but the most debated tid-bit among audience and panelists alike was whether Milan was a valuable space to challenge industry traditions.

s ydney panelist emma elizabeth in particular singled out tom dixon as an example of Milan’s power in breaking industry practice. for emma, tom’s activity at the fair was a real showstopper because traditionally, “no one talks dollars at the Milan fair,” she says. “except for tom dixon, he had price tags next to all of his products, which—good on him! I really think he’s sick of the chinese market and many others coming to the show and instantly ripping it off. so he did that to make a point—and he made a very strong point this year: ‘here’s my piece, this is how much it costs, this is how long it took to make. It’s making a very big statement that no one else has at Milan—you’ve never seen a price tag on anything for decades.”

david caon further interjected on this point that “unlike everyone else at the fair, tom made it clear he was going to sell direct, and if you were a specifyer or even just a consumer with an empty apartment you could fit it out right then and there. he was making a statement I think, that you don’t have to communicate through an interior designer, you can connect directly with your product designer, or in this case tom himself, which is a really unique experience … he’s been really proactive with this message, like with the Be Original campaign in a merica. a nd while yes, having a stand with prices was very confronting, I felt it was really positive in breaking some of those barriers with our end users. hats off to him.”

others, particularly in the audience, felt this was a sad happenstance, where the time-honored tradition of no price tags at Milan should be protected and valued. especially with the proliferation of other global events (think Icff new york or london design week) where price tags and doing business on the ground is common practice, there were several comments that Milan should remain pure to the ‘theatrics’ of the industry as a space for experimentation, and leave the ‘off the trade floor’ business to the younger global design fairs.

a ny way you slice it, it appears there is still hope for experiencing (and indeed covering) Milan in a meaningful way. here’s hoping that we move beyond the superficial reprting that has begun to discredit Milan, and protect what really ought to be treasured—authenticity... in every sense of the word.

Read more about Indesign’s 2015 Milan review and share your thoughts at indesignlive.com/milanreview2015

M Ilan Rev Iew, hosted In sydney and Melbou R ne, sta Rted a R efR eshIng dI alogue—both cRItIcal and honest—on the R eal Issues that conceR n local desIgneR s and IndustRy.

Sophia Watson is the Editor of DQ Magazine.

SOLUTIONS BEYOND SPACE AND TIME

With industry best lead times, Krost & Klein are equipped to meet your deadlines on any project. Coupled with a superior product range, they will work with you to create the perfect office landscape, no matter the job requirements.

be Yond design

Words Lorenzo Logi

The general consensus among younger, more alternative visitors of the m ilan f urniture fair is that the f iera is a corporate wasteland where creativity is cannibalised for profit, while the f uori salone champions young talent, fresh ideas, and responsible practices.

t he reality, as per usual, is more complicated, however the polemic highlights the plurality of sentiment and purpose amongst both exhibitors and audiences. a nd, whichever side of the battlelines we may fall on, a holistic vision is that a successful, worthwhile design fair needs to marry the reality of economic viability with the whimsy of conceptual exploration.

a s such ventura l ambrate, the only curated— and largest—component of the f uori s alone, plays a vital role in the health of the design week overall by creating a veritable carnival of audacious ideas. Whilst the guiding theme of the event changes yearly (in 2015 it was ‘ unite & c onnect’), the central ethos of finding and bringing together emerging talent remains unchanged.

t his year, a series of architecture and design faculties and academies, the majority hailing from northern e urope, presented impressive, stimulating and sometimes cheeky bodies of work. particularly noteworthy were eindhoven design academy’s provocative but thoughtful ‘eat shit’ installation,

which explored issues around food, waste, culture and intimacy, and the more approachable but equally fascinating ‘materialdesign 2’ exhibit presented by g erman university h f g o ffenbach, which consisted of a collection of innovative materials that respond to moisture, magnetism, and electricity.

a recurring theme at the precinct (and the city, no doubt prompted by the foci of the 2015 m ilan World e xpo) was that of food. a part a host of interesting pop-up eateries scattered about lambrate—again, very different from the offerings at the fiera—various designers chose to orient their presentations around food, its production and distribution. responding to the resource-intensiveness and unsustainability of traditional animal rearing, carolin s chulz has combined insect meat with a 3-d printer to create ‘bugs bunn Y’ a tongue-in-cheek edible sculpture of a small rabbit.

t he tomorrow collective, based in lund university, s weden presented a suite of products that aim to re-connect people with the origins of their food and promote sustainable consumption. f rom vinegarmaking kits to containers for di Y toothpaste, these were pleasing to eye, mind and soul.

a s various cities around the world launch their own design events, the risk is that their quality—and audience—become diluted, compromising one of their main purposes in the first place: bringing the industry together. a dd to this the habit (understandable, considering the investment) of large brands recycling stands from occasion to occasion, and it is hard to justify visiting more than one or two per year.

i n this light, events like ventura lambrate, and its equivalents in l ondon, stockholm, d ubai, singapore, s ydney and so on, become indispensable opportunities to not only make design events relevant to more than just a core of established industry professionals, but to ensure that each location offer something unique.

See more of our favourites from Ventura Lambrate 2015 at indesignlive.com/venturalambrate2015

previous above

Transformative paper by Florian Hundt (part of ‘Materialdesign 2’ by German University HFG Offenbach) plays with paper and wood’s sensitivity to humidity, creating a material who’s visual and tactile dimension responds to the air around it previous belo W Danish students of the Design School Kolding put on an impressive show this year, with interactive, multi-sensory and neuro-responsive installation ‘The Tube’ being a definite highlight

With design fairs proliferating across the World, and events competing for points of difference, the definition of design is broadening to include creative, clever content across disciplines.

Lorenzo Logi is Managing Editor of i ndesign .

Wildlife Inspired Designs Showcase The Versatility Of Staron®

SAMSUNG STARON® SOLID SURFACES created a collection of pieces made with Staron ® and displayed them on exhibition at many design shows including 100% Design in London and the HD Expo in Las Vegas. Staron® Solid Surfaces, created by technology leader Samsung, are manufactured from a natural mineral refined from bauxite and blended with pure acrylic resin resulting in a premium solid surface.

The wildlife inspired collection created by Staron® includes the ‘Killer Whale’—a curved, whale shaped kitchen island; ‘Armadillo’—a wavy, layered luxurious bathtub; ‘The Zebra’—a black and white sofa; ‘Hedgehog’—a spiky sofa featuring Staron ® base and squishy rubber spikes; and the ‘Owl’ speakers that feature owl eye inspired speakers, and have been shortlisted in the London Design Awards.

Visitors at the exhibitions were invited to the Staron® stand to interact with the unique objects, feel the surface, and see the design versatility that it offers. It also allowed visitors to see the varied applications of the product by seeing it interpreted into everyday furniture pieces with a quirky twist.

The original design concept by Staron® was created to inspire designers and architects to design past conventional standards, and think creatively beyond design boundaries. Staron® used the wildlife

inspirations to express this concept in a way that catches the eye. The collection also showed the smooth and monolithic nature of Staron® with its ability to create long continuous surfaces with no open joins. The thermoforming nature of the product was also on display, through the creation of smooth soft curves used for each piece.

Staron ® is easy to clean and highly resistant to bacterial growth. For this reason, the material has become popular for use not only in kitchens and bathrooms, but also expanding into environments such as hospitals and restaurants, where hygiene is crucial. Thanks to the consistent solidity throughout its thickness, Staron ® requires no additional finishing or sealants to protect its surface, so after years of use, the surface can be rejuvenated by sanding and repolishing.

To show the versatile design flexibility of Staron ® , the Staron® Design Awards have been created in Australia to recognise design excellence among designers, architects and students using Staron® in an existing or conceptual design. The awards program is judged by an independent panel of industry judges, and is open across three categories – commercial, residential and concept. For prize, product and entry information visit staron.com.au.

Thirty years ago e ric veldhoen was asked to review the headquarters of the d utch police. w hat he noticed was that, at any given time, only 50 per cent of the workspace was being utilised because many people would be working out of the office. d espite the fact that businesses differ from one another, veldhoen imagined a new kind of workplace which would have almost universal applicability. f rom this emerged the idea of a workplace which was endlessly flexible, in which individuals did not own territory but moved around according to what they had to do at the time. it also implied a smaller space for the same number of people. s ince they would never all be in the place at the same time, workspace could be shared.

fortuitously, this coincided with the explosion of digital technology. t he increasing sophistication and portability of personal communication devices has supported the dismantling of the traditional cellular workplace, liberating workers to work more or less anywhere they want. e ven meetings do not necessarily require everyone to pile into the same room any more. now there’s teleconferencing and s kype— even if you still can’t look people in the eye when you speak to them.

t his brave new world even suggests the death of the office building altogether. no more skyscrapers. no more commuting to the cbd i n the future it will be home offices, pop-up offices in co-working suburban buildings or even just the local coffee shop.

b ut let’s not get ahead of ourselves. g o back to veldhoen’s epiphany. o nly 50 per cent of the space being used?! it’s enough to drive the property manager of any company to the drink. t his is not a pretty bottom line.

s o, when we talk about the workplace revolution we must not see it only as a utopian vision of increased productivity driven by radiantly happy workers inspired by seemingly endless amenity, whose workplace is such a paradise that they can’t wait to get to work every day.

t his has been a revolution driven as much—if not more—by canny calculations about the cost effectiveness of property investment.

brenton smith, who heads up interiors for b ates smart, points out that real estate costs are the second biggest cost next to employment costs. “ d ifferent sectors,” he explains, “are going through different levels of change and moving at a different speed. i f you speak to anyone in education, they still need 25 square metre offices. but if they were paying cbd prices in a t ier 1 building they wouldn’t have 25 square metre offices.”

most businesses are tenants. often a new fit-out comes about through necessity—the lease is up and the business has to move and with that comes the opportunity/need for a new workplace. but churn costs can be significant for both tenant and landlord. hence, it is not uncommon for landlords with premium space to offer large discounts on rent in the form of generous new fit-outs aligned to the business’s specific needs just to avoid having to replace a quality tenant.

s o, it is the marketplace which is arguably the main driver. b ut it still throws up the opportunity for businesses to focus on what kind of business they are and how the design of their workplace can assist them achieve their commercial objectives.

According to b renton s mith, although many businesses come to workplace consultants and designers with a clear idea of what their business drivers are, many have never really thought through what kind of a business they are.

t he former will naturally line up with consultants and designers who are evidence-based, designing from the inside out and customising the fit-out to the business. t he latter will fall prey to the trend-merchants who will impose a workplace which is almost certainly inappropriate for the business, thereby guaranteeing more churn costs down the track.

“ t he latest thing now,” quips s mith, “is that everyone wants to stand up… we like trends in Australia.”

t he good news is that workplace design is becoming more customised, with a growing emphasis on change management and including staff in the process—meaning the work environment is more likely to be fit for purpose and embraced by staff.

meanwhile, what about all those ‘out-stationed’ personnel who now spurn the office commute? well, the new media hubs are meant to not only provide on-demand facilities, but also the missing social life of the office.

b ut, as one who now works from home, i wonder whether the missing rough-

and-tumble of office life might not mean a spike in early- onset dementia.

t hen there’s the much-vaunted value of teamwork and collaboration. c an we really have this without face-toface interaction? no. b ut that doesn’t mean that the ‘de-construction’ of the office should stop. w hat it does highlight is the exciting challenge to develop new ways and places to work in a fast-evolving commercial world.

Words Paul McGillick

illustration Michelle Byrnes

portrait Masano Kawana

A revolution h A s been driving the workpl Ace for the l A st thirty ye A rs. hA s it run out of ste A m or does it still h Ave A wAy to go? pAul mcgillick does A r A in check A nd A sks if there will even be A workpl Ace in the future.

comment

Paul McGillick is a Sydneybased freelance writer on architecture, art and design.

INDESIGN EVOLVE

MATERIALITY: BRICK AND BLOCK IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN

ARCHITECTURE

Edited and curated by Ron Ringer

Published by Dry Press Publishing

576pp hardcover, AUD$99

61 2 98402333

Reviewed by Lorenzo Logi

Since ancient man fi rst dug handfuls of clay out of the earth and let them dry in the sun, bricks have literally been used to build the world around us. In Australia, they represent the earliest imprints of European colonisation on the physical environment, and their evolution from rustic to refi ned mirrors our evolution from isolated convict outpost to self-assured modern nation.

Materiality is a celebration of the integral role brickwork has played—and continues to play—in our built environment, and offers a comprehensive vision of just how innovative, richly varied, and beautiful the application of the humble brick can be.

The format of the book is a simple one: almost 60 projects are divided by state over the first 440 pages, with the last 100 devoted to essays, glossaries and other information. Projects are presented with multiple generously proportioned images, architectural plans and explanatory text which gives both a general description of the project’s design and context, as well as exploring its use of bricks. Pleasingly, the space allocated to each project varies to match its complexity and visual interest. Projects are sourced from some of the nation’s most recognised practices, and span almost every imaginable building typology. The result is rich; even if a reader were familiar with individual projects, their grouping and arrangement creates a sustained engagement with brickwork in myriad surprising and delightful iterations that offers an entirely new sense of enjoyment.

The concluding, text-based part of the book is similarly satisfying, exploring everything from bricks’ importance in the evolution of architecture as a practice globally, to individual case studies of how the geology of an area has affected the palette of the cities that draw their bricks from its earth.

Finally, Brickworks, the publishers of the book, must be commended for producing a work that whilst promoting their sector in general, in no way feels like a marketing exercise, and is thus a valuable cultural document.

MONGREL RAPTURE: THE ARCHITECTURE OF ASHTON RAGGATT MCDOUGALL

Written by ARM Architecture et al

Edited by Mark Raggatt, Maitiú Ward

Published by URO Publications

1616pp softcover leatherbound, AUD$89 uromedia.com.au

Reviewed by Sophia Watson

The fi rst major monograph on Ashton Raggatt McDougall, Mongrel Rapture is about one of the most provocative architectural practices in Australia. It has been celebrated—and occasionally execrated—by critics and the public alike, yet, despite the work’s capacity to polarise, the practice has produced some of Australia’s most significant buildings.

When I fi rst received this book, I became immediately obsessed with the internal and external package. The whole object is a solid—and quite clever—reference to your traditional bible (think low-gsm paper, guilded pages, rounded edges, soft leather and so on). Famed graphic artist, Stuart Geddes, has managed to deliver an illuminated ‘holy architecture’ manuscript that is (quite fittingly) every bit as provocative and puzzling as ARM’s famed buildings.

Upon opening and reading, it became clear that Mongrel Rapture is a book of many parts, rewarding repeat readings with layers and layers of little hidden graphic and content gems.

The writing itself is rich and comprehensive but somehow greatly engaging, which I find quite rare among what have traditionally been dry books on architectural practices. Featuring an extensive selection of architectural drawings, a rich photographic portfolio of key projects, and contributions by writers, critics and architects from around the world, Mongrel Rapture has an added layer of credibility, rather than the self-professed ‘look how great we are’ approach.

It also includes a substantial body of texts on the practice itself, and QR codes that point to a wealth of exclusive digital material beyond the book’s pages, including drawings of all of ARM’s major public buildings, conceptual animations and audio material. Ranting, funny, and reflective in turn, Mongrel Rapture is many books in one binding. It radically rethinks what an architecture publication can be—thank god!

PERSPECTIVES: THIRTY YEARS OF SKETCHES BY LUIGI ROSSELLI ARCHITECT

Foreward by Davina Jackson

Edited by Elsa Dominish

Self-published 144pp softcover, AUD$40 luigirosselli.com

Reviewed by Nicky Lobo

An architectural monograph can be a dangerous proposition, either too self-important or selfconscious. Perspectives, however, focuses on a single component of the design process—and one that Luigi Rosselli Architects sees as highly important—sketching. By taking this approach, the book achieves a level of integrity that matches that of the practice itself.

Perspectives complements the exhibition held at Mils Gallery in April/May 2015 celebrating 30 years of practice. The exhibition featured a Paper Arch installation comprising more than 1,000 butter paper sketches creatively assembled over a steel mesh structure.

The book is more chronological in presentation, cataloguing selected sketches from the three decades since 1985. A variety of media has been used to communicate form, concept, context, light and shadow, including pencil, watercolour, waxed crayon and Rotring pen, often highlighted with white Tipp-Ex (correcting fluid).

The projects represent the practice’s oeuvre from commercial to residential, public and even furniture design. Some individual projects are celebrated over three spreads with a large heading, while others are confined to four projects per spread. The emphasis seems to be dependent on availability of high resolution scans and existing photography rather than a meaningful selection—the residential project that is “Rosselli’s first important Sydney house” according to the foreword is almost missed, given just a single page.

The layout highlights a visual phenomenon common to quality architects. Rosselli’s freehand lines “often foreshorten, elongate and otherwise distort key elements of his buildings,” as opposed to meticulous measured perspectives. Shown with photography of the corresponding angles in the built project, however, “his visions and realities seem remarkably congruent,” marvels Davina Jackson in the foreword.

FOR DESIGN PEOPLE

mindful in nature

This year, Interface is inviting four young design teams to collaborate in the creation of their ‘Beautiful Thinking’ campaign. Designers are given Interface’s carpet tiles from the ‘Equal Measure’ collection and asked to combine these with a prop or piece of furniture to create a mindful space, where stress is minimised, energy replenished, and creativity cultivated. The campaign is the next step in Interface’s commitment to biophilic design, aiming to create ecosystems in the built environment that awaken one’s ability to thrive, collaborate and think creatively.

The first team to participate consisted of four young designers from Woods Bagot, who identified balance as a key element in their concept; “for us a mindful space is about balance; a balance between contemplation and inspiration, a balance between being subdued and distraction-free as well as stimulating. It is about everything in equal measure, creating harmony through balance” they explain.

This is reflected in their final design, which draws on imagery and design cues from both the built and natural environments. They say, “The image of city streets flanked by vertical skyscrapers really gave form to our piece, and you can see this in the vertical suspension of the tiles. Drawing on the language of the natural world, which is more fluid and rhythmic, we have suspended the carpet tiles at differing heights and with different spaces between them. Suspending all the tiles in this manner also created the simplicity and consistency we felt was conducive to a calm and contemplative space.”

The random, organic pattern of of the Equal Measure carpet tiles was perfectly complementary to this design concept, balancing the more linear geometry of the vertical arrangement, and, as the designers observe, contributing to a “dynamic aesthetic that helps achieve a stimulating and inspirational space.”

The subtle inclusion of E15 Haus paper weights in oak, walnut and brass from Living Edge further plays on this city-scape concept, whimsically playing with the installation’s sense of scale.

The success of the installation, and the enthusiasm with which it has been received by designers, underscore the currency and relevance of these concepts. The Woods Bagot team express this beautifully when they say, “Beautiful thinking at its core is what design is about, it’s about poetry in design responses, design that flows, that just works. The concept of a mindful space is just as important and essential to design today. In order to think beautifully we need a space that is conducive to that, a space without clutter, distraction and chaos, a space that is calm, stimulating, restorative and comfortable.”

Interface has collaborated with a team of young designers to create a space that marries creativity, whimsy and tranquility.

“Beautiful thinking at its core is what design is about”

CREATIVE dIRECTIon Woods Bagot interior design team under direction of Todd Hammond (shown from left to right): Adrian Stasi, Phoebe Hogan, Sophie La, Kate Lange PHoToGRAPHY Tim Robinson dE sIGn Michelle Byrnes WoRds Lorenzo Logi

BRougHT To you By InTeRfAce interface.com

Carpets at Work

Arnold lane director, Chris lane, discusses how Gibbon Group’s carpets contributed to the Interactive workplace.

office design is becoming a very important reflection of a company’s brand—so how important was the use colour throughout the fit-out?

The quality of the built environment, facilities and client experience was the key brand consideration, the use of colour was not an important part of the original client brief. Colour was slowly introduced during the design process as a ‘subtle’ branding strategy for specific client areas, largely the auditorium, and to signify the collaborative or break out zones.

The clients corporate colour is blue, and blue is not directly identifiable with any one client due to its broad use for corporate branding. We therefore largely steered clear of the use of the corporate colour.

Where we did reference the corporate colour we customised treftord carpet in blue hues in the auditorium.

c ommercial spaces are certainly becoming more domesticized—how does flooring fit into this trend?

In our opinion the trend towards creating office spaces that are generally more warm or comfortable seems to respond to the desire to make office spaces feel more human. We approach this trend with restraint, as

ultimately the spaces must function as a commercial office. Colour, texture, balance and the tactile nature of natural products are good ways to introduce a warm, relaxed and comfortable feel to an office space. rugs and customized flooring are an important tool to employ to translate the residential concept to an office space and identify zones.

do the acoustics play a large part in choosing soft flooring for you—since a lot of offices are so open plan?

Acoustics are an important consideration on every project and one of the key elements to be resolved in achieving a quality, habitable space to either work or live.

o n this project, as with many commercial projects, the opportunity to introduce soft, noise absorbing materials is limited to largely soft flooring or specific acoustic products. The selection of the carpet and the opportunities we created to introduce carpet were important considerations throughout the design process.

h ow important was the look and texture of the flooring to you?

once it was agreed to introduce colour via the flooring we turned to Tretford products for the available colour palette, customizing options and natural fibre texture. In our experience there is no other flooring product available that offers vibrant colours while retaining a natural appearance.

For more

INVESTIGATING THE LATEST TRENDS AND PRODUCTS IN LIGHTING

In this issue we look at lighting in the workplace.

The single largest investment into an office building throughout its lifetime, is the employment cost of those who work in it. This can amount to many times the construction cost of the building. Studies have shown that salaries and other employment costs can be up to 18 times greater than the cost of the building when measured over a 30-year period. It is well recognised that investment into the quality of employees’ working environments will yield positive returns in terms of being an employer of choice, retaining staff, minimising absenteeism and, possibly, optimising productivity. What is generally less known is the degree to which the quality of lighting contributes to these advantages.

Whilst the cost of the production of electric light continues to decrease rapidly and its measurable benefits, in terms of lumens and colour rendering capability are well established, advances in neuroscience are only now starting to provide an understanding of the factors which condition

perception and responses to differing light characteristics. This can translate into highly tuned lighting design which takes account of the type of work being done and the conditions under which it is taking place. In turn, this advances the day when investment into ‘better lighting’ can yield a financial return and the establishment of a ‘lighting value proposition’.

In the following article, three leading Australian lighting designers talk about their work with light in contemporary office spaces. A common factor emerges - that business owners and office operators continue to place primary value on the use of innovative lighting in prestige public and meetings spaces rather than in the all-important open plan office plates which house their largest investment—their workforce.

André Tammes is Indesign’s Lighting Editor. andretammes.com

But what of light’s more quotidian functions, its more day-to-day applications? I decided to find out.

Tim Carr is one of several leaders at Arup’s Lighting division, located on multiple floors of a prime highrise office building overlooking the steadily growing towers of Barangaroo. “We’re 80-strong,” he says, “So if you’re looking for a lighting nerd, you don’t have to look far.” Arup came to Australia in 1963 to undertake the structural engineering of the Opera House, and stayed. Today it’s one of the most influential engineering and lighting firms in the world.

Tim and I are seated in one of several plywood booths in a kind of kitchen/ breakout area/gallery/rumpus room. It operates as an ersatz laboratory where Arup tests workplace concepts. “In workplace design, we’re increasingly being asked to create different spaces with variable ambiance, to develop a suite of lighting options. The trend is towards breakout zones with cool new furniture typologies, but we found that where these were installed under uniform light, it turned out that no matter how sexy they were, people just weren’t using them.” So “here,” indicating a dozen or so workers at

high-tech desks and brightly coloured island units, “we now keep these more personalised areas darker, install a more nuanced light.” Ushering me through a standard office door, we’re in a brightly lit room of ranked desks under uniform light—the difference in ambiance is startling.

“Wellbeing is on everyone’s lips right now and in lighting design that essentially comes down to our circadian rhythm—that’s what everyone’s interested in”. Circadian rhythm, or what we mere mortals know as ‘the body clock’, controls the peaks and troughs in our energy levels throughout a 24-hour cycle.

Over in the lab zone, Tim runs an accelerated circadian cycle, compacting an eight-hour cycle into 15 seconds. True, I sense the shifts from cool, to warm and back to cool lighting, but don’t feel remarkably better off. It clearly needs time to be effective!

A few blocks away, above a tattoo parlour and then a pole-dancing studio, is Point Of View. Principal, Mark Elliott, is seated at the desk closest to the door, effectively receptionist and head of the company.

I calculate some 20 workstations, many unoccupied on my lunchtime visit. Point Of View is the Little Engine

That Could, a boutique operation that hits above its weight, with clients that include Shangri-La Sydney, the Victorian Parliament and Sky City Casino, Adelaide. “Sixty per cent of our clients are in the hospitality sector,” reckons Mark, “the rest are in high-end residential. Whether it’s an office, an airport, a casino or a posh house on the harbour, everyone’s looking for a point of difference.”

Nonetheless, in the corporate context, he admits, “Often companies still want to spend their money mostly where the client will see it—lobbies, meeting rooms, conferencing hubs, that kind of thing. Out back, the workers are more often than not bathed in a fairly aggressive and often uniform light. An incredible number of clients say, “but it’s not bright enough.” Sure, we can make it brighter, but what’s more important is contrast. Bright white light will keep the employees awake, but it will also make them tired; the eye can’t rest. Contrast is more important than intensity and best practice is a colour shift between cool and warm lighting to take account of differing functions within a building.” Ah, there’s that circadian rhythm again…

Donn Salisbury and his team at Electrolight are working closely with

opener A high level of wall brightness coupled with reflective desk surfaces and good coffer ceiling lighting at the CBRE Sydney office, designed by WMK Architects, creates a welcoming reception area.

Photo: Marcus Clinton previous Largely indirect lighting from the internal wall enclosure at the Optiver offices by HASSELL provides visual comfort and interest with excellent contrast conditions for screen-based work. Meeting table linear task lighting complements the indirect ambient lighting.

Photo: Marcus Clinton

words sTepHen Todd pHoTograpHy various

As I write this, the VIVID light festival is in full swing in Sydney, the Light Show is on at the MCA and the James Turrell exhibition is racking up record numbers at the National Gallery in Canberra. Light, it seems, is on everyone’s mind. Not least, the minds of corporate heavyweights who are seeking to make brand statements of their HQs and garner accolades for their creativity via attention-grabbing lobbies and other public spaces.

Monash University on the Alertness

CRC research project to “gain an understanding of how we receive and perceive light, its impact on alertness, fatigue and productivity, and the wellbeing that results from certain wavelengths we receive across the spectrum.” Monash and Harvard Professor Steven Lockley and colleagues have discovered that there are photoreceptors in the retina that detect light for responses other than vision. Donn adds, “These photoreceptors are located in the ganglion cell layer of the eye and are anatomically and functionally separate from the rods and cones we use to detect light in order to see. These cells send signals to the parts of the brain involved in regulation of circadian rhythms, alertness and mood amongst other functions. While the understanding of this system is not entirely new, modern lighting technologies are allowing us to take advantage of this knowledge to create ‘smart’ lighting systems, which optimise light for both visual and nonvisual functions.”

“All this is now being played out in the real world, as it has become recognised that lighting effects alertness and recovery of patients, especially in neonatal wards.” At the Canberra Border Protection Agency, the three eight-hour shifts are now being run with circadian lighting; “People are literally being programmed as if they are working under daylight conditions.”

Despite the tsunami of studies indicating the health and wellbeing implications of lighting in the workplace, “a lot of the time,” Donn says, “we’re still asked to come in and design lighting in the specialty areas only, where their happy face-to-face client conferencing occurs. That leaves around 90 per cent of a building’s occupants operating in much more ordinary conditions.”

Which is curious, really, given that it is now widely admitted that a healthy, happy, employee is less likely to call in sick, or to resign, and productivity should by all estimates be improved in both qualitative and quantitative terms.

All three lighting designers I spoke to indicated that clients give preferential treatment to client zones, over employee workstation areas. All three agreed that contrast is more important than intensity—that 320 lux on the work surface is generally correct, but that, as Mark Elliot put it, “uniformity across a whole work space has a negative impact. If lighting is blanketed to an even coverage everywhere, there is no contrast, no highlight, nothing to attract or distract the eye.” Vertical surfaces, all agreed, were incredibly important to be lit. “It’s as important as horizontal lighting,” insists Tim Carr. “Illuminating walls makes places feel lighter, brighter and more airy—it increases a sense of spaciousness. But it’s an added cost, so you’ve got to get your client to go out, look at places with you. You need to encourage and educate them.”

Stephen Todd is a freelance writer on design and fashion.

Above Dramatic use of colour and high contrast lighting values create a strong visual statement at the 3M Innovation Centre by Colliers International. Linear lighting feature in walls plus rim lighting to white work enclosure create attractive resting points for the eye.

Photo: Donn Salisbury Left Black and white ceiling geometry provides a strong graphic quality which, with lighting to walls and screen divider, delivers a sense of brightness in the Corrs Chambers Westgarth Brisbane reception area by Bates Smart.

Photo: Fred McKie

Cutting Edge

LASER BLADE - IGUZZINI’S REVOLUTIONARY NEW LIGHT SYSTEM

Leading the way in lighting for workplace environments, iGuzzini presents Laser Blade, a revolutionary new lighting system that allows illumination to be tailored to specific settings while showcasing the brand’s signature elegant, minimal design. Laser Blade transforms the concept of the down light. The design of the system is almost impossibly minimal, making it virtually invisible once installed. The product’s miniaturised optic provides high visual comfort and uses the physical principle of pinpoint lamps, emitting a crisp, targeted circular light beam that eliminates glare. Rejecting rigid frameworks, Laser Blade offers ample opportunities for customisation, and its simplicity is the result of an integrated process involving various disciplines: the science of lighting, technology, design and culture. The system is a flexible, universal tool, and has received prestigious international awards.

iGuzzini iguzzini.com

Living Breathing Office

Herman Miller’s new Passport software suite provides an unprecedented level of understanding about how office space and furniture are being used.

words lorenzo logi photography courtesy of herman miller

Whilst we all recognise the importance design plays in fostering happy, healthy and productive workers, hard data backing this up can be hard to come by, and usually involves costly and time consuming post-occupancy studies. Furthermore, one - off analyses of how workers are interacting with their surroundings fail to take into consideration how workers, and workplaces, evolve over time, and thus do not give the ongoing feedback necessary to ensure ongoing peak performance.

Herman Miller’s new Passport software suite elegantly resolves this, offering workers and executives detailed, real-time information on how offices are being used. As Karen Lam, Living Office Performance Environments Strategist for Herman Miller Asia says, “Recent technological development allows us to collect real-time, rich and valuable data of office space utilisation and occupancy. Through data analysis, we can accurately and effectively visualise the trend and pattern of utilisation and occupancy, which is very helpful in spatial planning.” Indesign sat down with Samantha Giam, project leader for the Passport project, to hear about the product’s evolution.

What is PassPort?

Passport is a new technology service from Herman Miller that will be offered across our entire furniture platform. Passport adds a 4th dimension to furniture, bringing it fully into the sphere of the Internet of things. Passport makes data accessible, providing 360 degrees self-awareness on a daily basis and enabling users to make the most of their work envirnoments.

Passport is designed to build on Herman Miller’s Living Office framework , which consist of four key

components - Visioning, Placemaking, Settings and services. Within th is framework, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model, it is about understanding organizations ’ and people’s need s , what they want to achieve in each and every project.

Models like ABW assume everyone has laptops, everyone can work everywhere T he truth is that most organizations in Australia (or elsewhere) practice what is often described as a “tempered” model of ABW Living Office offers organization just that, the ability to shift in incremental steps to the company’s goals. Our visioning workshop s with client s establishes exactly what they want in concrete metrics and measurable outcomes.

Place-making is a research-based approach that addresses the 10 fundamental modes of work and 10 settings that have emerged from our research. Settings are prescribed in various scenarios we call Landscapes that are designed to optim is e the experience of work, creating the seamless flow for collaboration to happen everywhere and offering workers a variety of choices of settings to work in.

Last but not least, a global network of Herman Miller and dealer experts help organizations and the professionals who design and manage their spaces create, realize, and continuously improve highperforming workplaces.

Passport is an umbrella offer of various technology services including Apps that will work on IOS and Android platforms to enhance the Living Office framework . This year we will launch two applications under P assport : Enterprise , which is an ibeacon based space utilization tool , and Tergo, which will be launched later this year, an ergonomics driven application that optimises use of the upcoming T.2 height adjustable smart desk.

hoW did the idea for PassPort begin?

We were exploring the ibeacon hardware for our retail environment and the idea just naturally cross-pollinated. We were looking for a robust system to help organisations review space utilisation in the most natural way. We needed a program that complemented our existing

“The Living Office Passport awakens the worker to see the workspace like they never did before.”

Samantha Giam

previous above enterprsies smartphone app space utilisation information clear and instantly accessible previous beloW modern offices incorporate a variety of work areas, allowing workers to seek out environments best suited to their preferred style of work

collaborative processes with our clients; interviews, workshops, settings, and the pre- and postrealisation of the Living Office. At the same time, we needed more scientific-based evidence indicating what clients need in their decision-making process.

In the past two years, we conducted a lot of research around what technology was currently available. A lot of it was very analogue – mainly motion or heat sensors. These monitors are very difficult to deploy, face geographic limitations due to the usage of radio frequency and are very high cost. Others measured elements like audio, which we felt was cumbersome and not built for continuous usage. There were even more outrageous suggestions like implanting microchips in your employees!

What Workplace challenges does passport seek to address With regard to designers, Workers and end-client?

We offer different levels of engagement depending on the bespoke nature of the situation. Some companies with established workplace strateg ies find Passport really interesting as a measurement tool. In these cases, we support both clients and designers with daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly reports using Passport ’s data analysis functions This information is valuable for designers who help their clients to create their own Living Office. With this data , they can work more closely with clients to meet their specific needs and raise the performance of their organisations and workers through the layout of appropriate settings.

For workers, it gets really interesting! The average worker has no idea why the office is designed a certain way and what the settings are meant to do. It’s not unlike passing a tablet or a smartphone to someone who only knows the phone function. Passport allows the worker to see the workspace like they never did before. They will know where they spend most of their time per day and use the information to self-monitor and improve – we call it ‘ Quantified Work-Life ’.

What Was the greatest challenge in developing this service?

One client mentioned to us that they love the platform, but don’t have a purchasing framework to buy ‘equipment ’ from a furniture supplier. It is interesting how the furniture industry has become boxed-in as strict ly product suppliers this misconception is certainly a challenge for us.

The ibeacon platform itself needed a lot of testing and handholding. Internally, it was difficult getting everyone to understand that in Asia, digital natives form a large percentage of our cohort and that it was a ground-breaking way to look at utilisation for organisations and team behaviour. We also wanted to look beyond smartphone s to wearable devices. Our next step is to launch Passport on the Apple Watch by early 2016.

What future technologies Would herman miller like to build into its next generation of products and services?

We look to leaders in the industry to create new devices, new platforms and new applications that can inspire us to better satisfy our clients’ needs. In the immediate front, we are evolving Enterprise to Enterprise Advantage for a couple of unique customers practicing unassigned seating (or ABW) to help create an opportunity to bring people together, matching people to settings.

The first phase of Enterprise on its own is extremely powerful, we are working with a global client to deploy this platform across multiple sites so executives can check in at any time and note how each facility is performing.

Ultimately our core business is in the field of developing innovative products. We continue to merge and cross-pollinate technology with the analogue dimension, and that is where the true magic happens. We give our clients the tools to keep their finger on the pulse of living, breathing offices – made up of living, breathing people.

Lorenzo Logi is Managing Editor of Indesign

“The simple fact is that we only align ourselves with good companies with whom we have a great relationship.”

Sandro Fanuli

When I first arrived in Australia 61 years ago, my ship docked in Melbourne and I had next to nothing—only dreams and ambition,” recalls Giuseppe Fanuli, father and founder of the Fanuli family brand. His story is one oft repeated among Italians immigrants, who, armed with courage and hope, crossed oceans to build better lives for their families.

Whilst he may have had few possessions, Giuseppe, like many of his countrymen, carried an artisanal tradition and aesthetic sensibility prized in his young, new homeland cabinetry. “I started off as a cabinet maker, lending my craft to established furniture companies,” Giuseppe says, “and the goal was always to open a business of my own, with the hope that my family would someday join me to help create my vision.”

At that time, the Australian furniture industry was made up of companies that were firmly entrenched in the market, and there was very little imported product. When Giuseppe realised his dream and opened the first Fanuli store in 1976, the company stocked many of the major, established Australian brands. “I was very familiar with these craftsmen as I had worked with many of them as a cabinetmaker and due to my expertise and experience, I had a unique insight and understanding into the product I was selling,” he explains.

Guided by Giuseppe’s core values of selling only the highest quality furniture, providing excellent customer service and never becoming complacent, Fanuli grew steadily, with (like so many cultural stereotypes) Giuseppe’s sons helping out with deliveries and odd jobs on the weekends.

In 19 95 Giuseppe handed the reins to the next generation, and brothers Fabio, Sandro and Carlo took over the company’s direction. Fabio recalls his sentiments at the time, “…after seeing the work [Giuseppe] put into starting the business, I could see that he needed my input and decided to join the

opener The Fanuli family (from left to right): Marco, Carlo, Giuseppe, Sandro and Fabio Fanuli previous Carpentry at Riva 1920 workshop in Cantù, Italy AB ove Boss Executive table with Mia chairs by Riva 1920

Born as an immigrant’s dream in 1956, the Fanuli brand is defined by a core set of values passed on from father to sons, and close-knit bonds of kinship.

Fanuli brand. The fact that our family name was ingrained in the business meant that the move to join my father was a natural progression, with the common goal to establish and grow the brand with a sense of accomplishment and pride.”

Whilst the family connection has ensured continuity in Fanuli’s identity and culture, the fresh perspective brought by the brothers also paved the way for a defining shift in the company’s strategy, with a much greater focus on high-end Italian brands. As a result of this , Fanuli are now exclusive suppliers for Flexform, Kristalia and Riva 1920, with dedicated, branded showroom spaces and events to promote each brand held regularly.

The affinity between Fanuli and these brands runs deeper than simply good business, with the particular DNA of family companies contributing to the simpatico: “The fact that we share a family-based business structure has allowed us to form very close ties with our brands,” comments Fabio, “Like us, some of our suppliers are currently in their third or fourth generation in the furniture trade and as such there is a recurring theme of heritage and partnership.”

Sandro, who manages Fanuli’s overseas suppliers, expands: “The simple fact is that we only align ourselves with good companies with whom we have a great relationship. There are those furniture companies out there for who it’s all about numbers and figures; companies that are part of multinational conglomerates but there’s no passion and love there. We can’t work with that, I can’t work with that. I need to work with companies I can really talk to; companies that I can call the owners on their mobile if I need to. There’s love, actually if I can put it like that between the companies,” he says.

The feelings are mutual; while visiting Melbourne for the launch of Fanuli’s new showroom in May of this year, Flexform’s Giuliano Gimberti commented that “thanks to our having a harmony of thought and shared vision maybe even due to the Italian blood that runs in the Fanulis ’ veins together we have developed this program of expansion in the Australian market … the Fanulis are an excellent partner in this endeavour.” Sandro and his family have also enjoyed numerous holidays in northern Italy with Kristalia CEO, Ruggero Magrini, and his family.

With Fabio overseeing marketing and media for the company, and Carlo taking care of Australian suppliers, the brothers have each chosen an area to specialise in, while continuing to share major decisions. As always, working with family has its challenges, and flexibility is crucial in overcoming them, but ultimately, as Fabio point s out, “The opportunity to work with family members that share my vision and passion is a rewarding experience. I can go about my work with the knowledge that we are all working towards a common goal, and as such there is not conflict over the state of the business.” And, with Fabio’s son Marco now involved in the company, Fanuli’s future as a family brand seems secure. Reflecting back on almost 40 years of operation, Giuseppe’s words illustrate just how closely bound the company and family are: “To see the business as it exists today makes me incredibly proud, however the opening of our Melbourne store this year was a fantastic moment in my life. I am very proud of my three sons, not only for being a part of the business, but for taking it to a place that I could not imagine was possible all those years ago. To see them demonstrate the same passion for quality furniture that drove me to start the business in the first place, gives me the ultimate satisfaction and for me, that is what a family company is all about.”

Surface Matters

CORIAN® is attractive, flexible and functional—just like the offices it works in.

A material subject to daily use must be not only durable, but also a pleasure to live with. The smooth, seamless workability of DuPont™ Corian ® is excellently suited to office environments, whether in a home studio or large commercial operation.

With a carefully created colour palette on offer, from the ever-popular whites to subtly nuanced solids and intriguing textured choices, a workspace’s ambience can be thoughtfully tailored to any objective or identity.

HBO+EMTB chose Corian® to form the strong sculptural forms of this new reception counter at a Sydney law firm. Matching Corian ® was also used on the adjacent magazine rack, waiting area coffee tables and meeting room credenza shrouds, helping to create a fluid and harmonious client facing area. The client wanted a striking reception that reflected the company’s values of professionalism, integrity and straight talking.

The design seeks to suggest these qualities with a repetition of clean, uninterrupted horizontals and simple geometric forms. The curves of the counter, chairs and tables link to the curve of the building façade and give a subtle wink to the forms of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House through the window. The counter itself is simple in form with a sophisticated overlay of seemingly endless horizontal channels wrapping its surface. Given the relative complexity of forms, the designers needed a solid surface product that was trusted, consistent in quality and known to perform well, for joiners and end users alike.

WoRds JAn HoWlin PoRTRAiT AnTHonY BRoWell

PETER STUTCHBURY

This year, T he a us T ralian ins T i T u T e of a rchi T ec T s’ Gold Medal was awarded

T o Pe T er sT u T chbury for ‘creaT inG archi T ec T ure T haT s Peaks of T he

Place i T inhabi T s.’ across 34 years of P rac T ice, sT u T chbury has ar T fully deMons T raT ed his own vision of whaT archi T ec T ure in a us T ralia can be.

Stuchbury was stunned, he says, when he received the call about the Gold Medal, but perhaps he shouldn’t have been. His work has come in for swathes of awards over the years, including 47 AIA awards alone. In 2003 he scooped up the top national awards for both housing and public buildings, an industry first, then repeated the feat two years later. Through wide publication, his involvement in competitions and his local and international lecturing and speaking engagements, Stutchbury’s reputation only grows, and he continues to deliver a dynamic vision of Australia and Australianness through this work, his teaching and his persona.

Closely associated with renowned architects Richard Leplastrier and Pritzker-Prize winning Glenn Murcutt, Stutchbury has always been ‘the young fella’ among them even though he is now 60. ‘Stutch’, as he’s known, is a radical, a campaigner, a romantic, a maverick and a story-teller as well as a particularly prolific architect. For years now he’s been consistently producing innovative, environmentally attuned buildings that are structurally striking and poetically expressive across a wide range of building types

One of his first buildings was a church in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea built in 1982. Invited by his uncle (a builder who had been a missionary) to design a traditional ‘longhouse,’ Stutchbury created a beautifully simple and economical solution.

His award-winning design for the Sydney International Archery Park, created for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, captured the character of the sport acutely. Friend and associate Neilsen Warren, describes the magic in the scheme as intuitive architecture of the highest order.

Not too many city architects get to design a woolshed. Stutchbury’s design for Deepwater Woolshed, built near Wagga Wagga in 2005, was hailed by architectural theorist Kenneth Frampton as “an ultra-modern work ” that’s “surely one of the world’s improbable architectural masterpieces.”

Stutchbury has also produced numerous highlyacclaimed public buildings including half a dozen at the University of Newcastle: the Design Faculty building (with EJE Architecture), the Nurses Faculty Building, the Life Sciences Building and Birabahn Indigenous Centre (with Sue Harper and Richard Leplastrier). In recognition he was awarded the University of Newcastle’s Convocation Medal in 2005.

In 2008, Peter Stutchbury A rchitects designed and built the winning entry in the International Living Steel Competition for extreme climate housing in Cherpovets, Russia. In 2009, it was an aircraft hangar in Cessnock, NSW, also award-winning.

Being selected to design a house on the coast of Japan for the legendary Issey Miyake was a remarkable compliment to the architect and an experience Stutchbury describes as “the most romantic, amazing process working with this brilliant person.”

The diversity in these projects says a lot about Stutchbury’s talents. But at the same time, the practice in which he is responsible for conceptual design work and around a dozen creative young architects “take it from there” is best known for its houses. To generalise, these are daring structures with strong profiles often set in magnificent landscapes the iconic ‘Invisible House,’ which was nominated House of the Year in 2014, is a good example. They’re highly considered houses, meticulously detailed and immaculately crafted. In making the most of the landscape and the nuances of each site, Stutchbury aims to deepen the connections his clients feel for the places they’re living in, to intensify their lived experience.

What’s also notable, is how different his houses can be from each other. An explanation for this, he suggests, is that there are two basic attitudes to design refinement and exploration and “I’m much more an explorer than I am a refiner.” In recent years these explorations have taken him a long way from the dramatic contemporary residences he creates for clients. The house he’s designed for himself near the beachfront in Avalon,

opener Portrait of Peter Stutchbury above A young Stutchbury at Charters Towers, QLD, 1977, where he was studying housing situations of the time opposite above Striking angles characerise the Sydney International Archery Park, 1999 opposite below Generous use of timber and expansive openings conect to the garden at Wall House, Futo, Japan, 2009

Sydney is a tent. It’s a pretty posh tent it has to be said, with a practical kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and toilet set on a timber platform. But sitting beneath the canvas, nursing cups of tea and talking about Stutchbury’s life and ideas, it’s a perfectly natural place to be.

The highlights of Stutchbury’s early years were instrumental to his thinking. Growing up as a surfer, and going on camping trips up and down the east coast “chasing cyclone waves,” gave him an intense experience of nature and different environments. He also spent a lot of time on the family’s sheep property in Cobar, developing a love of the land, and establishing a connection with Aboriginal Australia. A daydreamer at school, Stutchbury would have become a farmer, or followed his father into engineering had his grades allowed, but when the idea of architecture suddenly struck him it followed Accounting in the careers advice handbook he was galvanised. (His uncles were builders and he’d been working with them in school holidays.) He gained entry to the University of Newcastle in 1973 and threw himself into architecture with fervour. For his final year thesis Stutchbury investigated Aboriginal housing on the NSW north coast. When in Papua New Guinea, he studied traditional ‘longhouses’, drawing up plans of 42 examples from different villages. He backpacked through Asia, stayed in Japan, and, in 1990, with the aid of a Cann National Scholarship, spent 12 months studying indigenous housing in Africa, living in villages in Kenya, Swaziland, Zambia and South Africa. His abiding interest in these traditional building forms underpins his appreciation of housing.

Other influences were closer to home. Stutchbury says he learnt about respect from his mother and about hands-on building from his father who ran a large steel construction business. “My father was a brilliant [and] very well known engineer,” says Stutchbury. “Dad taught me about technology, in terms of construction and its values, so you can always trace the mathematical and structural integrity of our buildings.” While still at university, he met and became close life-long friends with Richard Leplastrier, who has been a mentor and a colleague for many years. Stutchbury says, “I

embraced Rick’s [thinking] because I was heading in that direction. In a way he re-emphasised what my father taught me about quality, but he took it into a world of romanticism and art. I have been blessed in that relationship,” he adds.

In 2001, with a shared commitment to environmentally-responsive architecture, Murcutt, Leplastrier, Stutchbury and former Dean of Architecture at the University of Newcastle, Lindsay Johnston, founded the Architecture Federation Australia (AFA) They also established the Glenn Murcutt International Master Class program, a two-week residential school that has since been held annually, and hosted over 1,500 professionals from 80 countries. Through this and other AFA initiatives such as the annual Student Architect Master Classes, his commitments (one day a week) as Professor of Architecture at the University of Newcastle, and the more than 180 lectures and talks he has given worldwide, Stutchbury spends around half of his time teaching. He sees it as “a wonderful way of remaining connected,” and feels a sense of responsibility to pass on the benefits afforded him.

The biggest influence on Stutchbury’s work, though, has been his life experience itself. “Without my life my buildings wouldn’t exist,” he says. The first house he designed and built for himself, West Head House in Clareville, in 1991, where his then-wife, landscape architect Phoebe Pape, and their three children lived for 23 years, was a cluster of lightweight of pavilions set against a spotted gum forest in which all of nature was part of life. Stutchbury’s philosophy for sustainable living was consolidated by the everyday experiences of working, bringing up a family and entertaining friends and the house became a testing ground for ideas that then found their way to other projects.

“Environmental considerations and romantic considerations,” says Stutchbury, are two things, –connected and highly considered at the crux of his architecture. “A house is not an object, it’s an artistic, beautiful, inspirational means of being in a place,” he says, and adds, “If a building is not going to be uplifting it’s not going to do you any good.” He says all his houses have been “designed with an intent to be poetry, or to communicate, or to shift people’s thinking.” Over and above that, he talks about using basic tools like connectivity, rawness, and honesty to create a spiritual quality that comes from a genuine connection to the land.

Sustainability is a word commonly used to describe Stutchbury’s work, but he slams its usual usage as a checklist of boxes to tick. “Sure, there’s a whole energy rating for a building that can be tabulated, but we should be much broader in our understanding of it,” he says. “Sustainability is how the Aborigines used to look after the land ... the respect that was nurtured socially between them, their respect for the greater world and all its relationships, that’s what sustainability is.” He calls for a sustainable architecture that operates at all levels,

Stutchbury aims to deepen the connections his clients feel for the places they’re living in.

Jan Howlin

left Voids, joinery and fenestration create interesting spaces and connection to the surrounding forest at Israel house, p aradise b each, NsW, 1992 below t he West head house at clareville b each, NsW (1991) seems to float above the greenery opposite rising from the plain, Deepwater woolshed at Wagga Wagga, NsW (2005) is a study of balanced geometry

embracing physical, social and spiritual sustainability. He is equally passionate about the need to value the wider environment much more highly, to raise its status to a respected place in day-to-day life and in architecture. “The landscape is a gift, it’s not something to be taken for granted. It’s got a huge capacity to teach us lots of things about calm and energy and about materials, about light and shade and peace of mind.”

Bringing these ideas closer to home, Stutchbury describes a fundamental shift in his thinking, from ‘the house in the landscape,’ to the ‘house as garden.’ While he’s been living in his tent for several years it is only a temporary measure, and a new house of concrete, copper and canvas half cave/half tower is on the drawing board. “It’s no longer, for me, the transition between inside and outside, that’s incidental,” he says. Instead, he’s on a mission to find out where the line can be drawn between security and comfort and openness and connection to what he sees as our natural habitat, which in an urban context is not so much the bush but the garden. “There’s all this questioning going on about where the real beauty comes from,” he says, and he predicts that, even when the house is complete, he’ll still be living largely in the garden, where the fire-pit, the open kitchen, the veggie patch and the chooks are. “It’ll be like living on a farm,” he says, but at sunset, he’ll be up on the rooftop terrace “having a cup of tea, looking at the sky.”

peter stutchbury A rchItect ure peterstutchbury.com.au

PeTeR sTUTcHBURY Timeline

1954 Born in Sydney, raised on the northern beaches

1964-1972 Attended Knox Grammar School, Wahroonga, Sydney

1973-1978 Studied architecture at the University of Newcastle, graduating with Honours, Met influential architect and teacher Richard Leplastrier

1979-1980 Worked with Quay Partnership P/L (Neilsen Warren and Ken Maher)

1981 Designed and helped build a church in Papua New Guinea, studied indigenous ‘longhouses’

1982 Resumed work with Nielsen Warren Architects before beginning Stutchbury Architects

1984 Travelled in Asia studying Pacific indigenous buildings, lived briefly in Japan

1989 Spent 12 months in Africa on a ‘Cann National Scholarship’ recording indigenous buildings

1991-1992 Built the Israel House, together with Ken Israel

1991-2007 Established Stutchbury+Pape with landscape architect Phoebe Pape

1992 Won limited competition (with EJE Architecture) to design a new Design Faculty and Art Gallery at University of Newcastle

1995 Won RAIA Robin Boyd Commendation for Israel House, University of Newcastle Design Building won RAIA Blacket Award (NSW)

1999 Sydney International Archery Park won RAIA NSW Public Buildings Award, Became Conjoint Professor of Architecture at the University of Newcastle

2000 Won National Timber Award, Monograph published by Philip Drew: Peter Stutchbury: Of People and Places: Between the Bush and the Beach, (Pesaro)

2001 RAIA Sir John Sulman Award (NSW) for Life Sciences Building, University of Newcastle, Major contributor to Newcastle University’s winning the Prime Minister’s National Environmental Banksia Award, Founding member of Architecture Foundation of Australia (AFA), teaching annually at Glenn Murcutt Master Classes

2002 Began teaching student master classes with Richard Leplastrier

2003 RAIA Sir Zelman Cowan (National) and Blacket Awards (NSW) for Birabahn, NSW Residential and Robin Boyd Awards for Bay House

2004 Founding member of Architecture Association of Australia (AAA), Visiting Professor, University of Arizona, USA, Delivered the ‘Barnstone Lecture’ in Houston, Texas, USA

2005 Convocation Medal, University of Newcastle, Robin Boyd Award for Springwater House, National Commercial Award and Blacket Award for Deepwater Woolshed

2006 Runner-up in international Innovative Architectures—Design and Sustainability Award, held in Italy, Blacket Award for Bangalay House, Exhibited in the Venice Architecture Biennale

2007 Re-established his practice as Peter Stutchbury Architecture, Visiting Professor, University of Capetown, South Africa

2008 Winner of the International Living Steel Competition in Russia, Won National Timber Award for Outcrop House, Exhibited in the Venice Architecture Biennale, Gave the Louis Barragan Address, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico and was awarded Diploma Catedra Louis Barragan

2010 AIA International Architecture Award for Wall House, Japan, Peter Stutchbury - Selected Projects, published by Pesaro, Gave guest lectures in Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile and Argentina, South America

2011 Became Resident Professor of Architecture, University of Newcastle, Under The Edge: The Architecture of Peter Stutchbury, published by AFA

2012 Robin Boyd Award and Wilkinson Award for Cliff Face House, Made a Life Fellow of AIA, Gave Hans Vetter Memorial Lecture in Pittsburg, USA, Spoke at RIBA, London, UK and to the Irish Institute of Architects

2014 Australian House of the Year Award for Invisible House

2015 Awarded AIA Gold Medal, Australia’s highest architectural honour

PGH Dry Pressed Bricks Create a Striking Entry in this Clovelly Home

The look of PGH’s dry pressed bricks is architecturally solid, and they epitomise brick manufacturing excellence. They are made by pressing clay into individual moulds at very high compression, providing a grainy yet smooth and velvety appearance as well as a beautiful meld of colour.

The bricks’ extremely square arris is also an important part of their aesthetic appeal, allowing infinite possibilities when it comes to innovative architecture in both traditional and contemporary building. Their distinctive look can be seen on many buildings, both old and new. And, all of these buildings have one thing in common – timeless, classic design.

An excellent example of PGH dry pressed bricks’ versatility is the new family home of Destech Building Group’s John Jabbour. When John set out to design his house, one of his primary design objectives was to balance a desire to create an ultra-modern, high-tech, contemporary home, with his personal preference for ‘heritage’ building materials. These materials, he believed, would help anchor the home to the site and its surrounding built environment.

As such, beyond a contemporary material and colour palette throughout the house, John has created a striking, seven metre high pixelated face brick wall that dominates the entry. This design element was initially inspired by a home originally created by leading Australian Architect, John Wardle. The application of face brick on this project resonated with John and became a dominant element of his home’s final design.

This imposing sculptural feature wall uses Mowbray Blue dry pressed face bricks in a Flemish bond, punctuated with random protrusions to create a sense of drama, and although this can be clearly seen from street level, its grandeur is best appreciated ‘up close and personal.’

In line with John’s appreciation for ‘heritage’ building materials, his decision to use PGH Mowbray Blue dry pressed face bricks for this installation works perfectly with the more contemporary elements used in the build and reinforces his belief that modern architecture can successfully borrow from the past and still deliver into the future.

For more inF ormation please visit pghbricks.com.au

s ales enquiries

13 15 79

Jazz by Art Ceram. Made in Italy.

The following six workplaces are at once disparate, and bound by a common thread. Whilst at first glance there is little that links a law firm in Brisbane with a technology company in Berlin, upon delving a little deeper we discover that both seek to address fundamental human desires, such as a sense of community, privacy, comfort, connection to the natural world, and, most importantly, personal choice. What unifies these projects— that goes beyond transient fashions in office design—is the understanding that people share common requirements, and that a truly excellent workspace supports dynamic working environments.

right Responding to the trend towards agile workplaces, Schiavello introduces Kayt Village, an intelligent furniture collection that enables balanced and active environments. “The intelligence behind this collection is that the furniture is designed to perform more than a single function; every piece is multi-purpose; every piece is created to enhance physical and psychological comfort at the workplace,” says Raffaele Tigani, General Manager of Schiavello International. Supporting various working styles, Kayt Cabana creates areas for communication, Kayt Nook provides places to withdraw for concentrated work and Kayt Hutch can be configured for both meeting and individual working settings.

Gavin Harris, design director of futurespace and designer of REA’s new Melbourne headquarters (pictured above left, full article pp.98-106) says, “Knowledge, collaboration, connection and creativity are the currency at REA Group and the physical space has to support that. Kayt Cabana does just that. It embraces the marketplace feel of the design, can easily move around to support flexibility, and the in-built audio visual technology makes it an incredibly valuable space to work and collaborate.”

An ArrAnged MArriAge

PhotograPhy Brett Boardman

The cantilevered, extruded glass lift core and seemingly random assemblies of vertical and horizontal sunshade blades combine to break down the mass of the building.

paul mcgillick

opener Lucas Grogan’s lobby artwork consists of a series of ‘curtains’ composed of 140,000 layered and stacked glass beads previous The transparent glass lobby volume is set beneath the building cantilever between the glass lifts and the existing structure above The central stairway is slightly offset over three levels to generate visual variety

It is tempting to think of buildings and their interiors going hand in glove. They do. But it has to be said that some make better fits than others. It is rare that buildings are designed from the inside out—the drivers are more to do with site, optimising rental space, regulatory constraints and occasionally making a public statement.

These developments are rather like arranged marriages. But even if ‘love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage,’ it has to be said that arranged marriages can often work quite well. In architectural terms, architects and their clients recognise the opportunity to shape a building to make it align as closely as possible to the client’s business culture.

Such was the case with the new TransGrid building in Sydney’s Ultimo, which sits behind the ABC building and diametrically opposite the new and idiosyncratic Frank Gehry building. The context was important because this precinct is fast becoming the most exciting in Sydney. It is a university precinct boasting a number of new and distinctive buildings, which complement the historical character of the area. This historic character includes the semi-industrial buildings of the former markets (Haymarket) and the Ultimo Pedestrian Network, to be called the Goods Line, which will eventually be Sydney’s answer to New York’s Highline. This passes directly in front of TransGrid and the architects, Bates Smart, have acknowledged this by beautifully integrating the building into its context: creating a public plaza to complement the Goods Line, ensuring that the scale and materiality of TransGrid complement the surrounding built form, and by providing transparency at ground

level to integrate the building with its context and to make visible the commissioned artwork in the lobby by Lucas Grogan, making it effectively a piece of public art.

Bates Smart succeeded where others had failed: to build a new building on top of an existing one, whose columns and central lift core had anticipated just such a development. But TransGrid, who were to be the main tenant, were looking to consolidate a number of offices into one and wanted the building to drive a new workplace culture, one with a flatter hierarchy, more collaboration and greater transparency. A central lift core would constrain this agenda.

The solution was a series of steel transfer trusses on top of the existing building. This enabled the floorplate to cantilever out on the western side (the entry and the Goods Line pedestrian precinct), thus increasing the floor area. At the same time, the lift core was moved to the western edge as an extruded glass volume, while service risers, staff amenities and escape stairs were located on the eastern side forming a visual shield to an adjacent residential building. The cantilever, the extruded glass lift core and the seemingly random assemblies of vertical and horizontal sunshade blades combine to break down the mass of the building, making it a ‘good neighbour’ to its largely small scale and variegated context.

TransGrid’s CEO, Peter McIntyre, had been very specific about the kind of building he wanted in order to drive a new transparent, connected and collaborative workplace and a number of ‘town hall’ meetings were held to further articulate this vision. The building supported this with long, column-free

floorplates with a central stairway, offset at each level to generate visual variety and connection across the three floors of the tenancy.

The floorplates are quite large (2,000 square metres) and very long. So, in the words of Bates Smart’s Brenton Smith, the challenge was how to make it not look like “a call centre or a football field of workstations”. The stairs help to give scale to the floorplates, as do open and semi-enclosed meeting pods, the custom-designed pendant lights (by Arup) and the Knoll 120° workstations which cluster staff into re-configurable teams of six and provide visual variety down the length of the floorplates. Similarly, the double-height central wintergarden with its grand views north across Darling Harbour is deliberately set in the middle on Level 2. Its transparency and views lead the eye through the space, while its location encourages the ‘bump factor’ because people have to go up or down to get to it.

Bates Smart have provided a building—with great fluidity vertically and horizontally, together with clear sightlines and a visually rich office landscape— that fully supports their client’s vision of an open and connected workplace, generating a significant shift from the previous workplace culture and supporting the staff in what has been a major change in the way they work. Post-occupancy feedback suggests that the staff could not be happier.

Share your thoughts on the Transgrid project at indesignlive.com/transgrid

left The recycled timber batten screen visually connects reception and the interior workplace below The office landscape provides a rich visual prospect and breaks down the long floorplates opposite The recycled timber screen is repeated inside the workplace as decorative balustrading connected to wire space dividers

Paul McGillick is a Sydney-based freelance writer on architecture, art and design.

Brenton Smith from Bates Smart headed up the interiors team on TransGrid. Here he speaks to Paul McGillick about the drivers of the project.

We won this project in a competition. TransGrid were the main tenant and occupied three floors. It was an integrated fit-out. At the time we started to brief the project, TransGrid had a number of satellite offices and there were issues in terms of the way the business was moving forward. There wasn’t a lot of collaboration going on. There were a few significant strategic business drivers that came along with the building, which they wanted the fit-out to fulfil. One of them was for more collaboration within the business, rather that separate, siloed business units in different parts of the city. By getting everyone under one roof, what they were trying to do was flatten the hierarchy and achieve more transparency within the office. They were quite cellular-based in their previous offices, high partitioning, very inward-facing, not a lot of transparency across the floors – and a lot of hoarding of paper.

The floorplates lent themselves to this new way of working with more transparency—one long, column-free, contiguous floorplate, side core. So, in terms of space planning, openness and transparency—it has all those

inherent qualities. Not separating or segregating business units. This was a nice, easy way of bringing everybody together over three floors.

TransGrid don’t have any clients per se. So, in terms of a public frontof-house space, it is quite modest. It’s not belts and braces stuff—you’re not doing a law firm. It is a nice honest fitout. Not polished. So, the fit-out does reference the idea that they’re in power (energy), it’s engineering. When you walk into reception you’ve got these recycled tallowwood power poles, an open screen with transparency into the business. They wanted to give people the opportunity to see into the business. In their old fit-out it was front-of-house/back-of-house,you hit a boardroom, then you were out. You had no idea what was going on inside. With this space you’ve got full transparency. There is modesty in the materiality. It’s got a polished concrete floor and timber elements that run all the way down. It’s about power and movement. The wires that suspend the fluorescent batten lights are about power. There is a sense of perpetual movement and energy through the ceiling. It was about creating a new image for TransGrid.

righT The doubleheight wintergarden breakout space with its operable glazed, louvred façade providing fresh air when activated Below Informal meeting areas are open and integrated within the office landscape

Transgrid

archiTec T Bates Smart Joinery H Dallas Industries sTorage soluTions CRM lighTing coordinaTor Heyday Group Pro Jec T manager PwC main conTrac Tor Built

ToTal Floor area 14, 370 m2 BaTes smarT batessmart.com

FurniTure

Reception: Desk, Hub Furniture. Waiting chair, Walter Knoll. Reception chair, Wilkhahn. Waiting area: ‘Ace’ chair, side table, Hub Furniture. ‘Ventura’ chair, Poliform. ‘Tio’ easy chair, Spence & Lyda Table, Koskela. Work Area: Meeting chairs and tables, Stylecraft . Meeting Area: Table, Koskela. Chairs, Poliform. Lounge, Jardan

Sliding door cabinet, CSM Office Workstation, Dedece. Wintergarden: ‘Wishbone’ chair, Cult . ‘Foxy’ chair, Café Culture + Insitu. Tables, Stylecraft. Side tables, Jardan

lighTing

Reception: Above reception desk, custom pendant, Light Project . Custom LED lights, JSB Lighting. Workstations, Dedece

Waiting Area: Spot lights, Light Project Work Area: pendant lights, JSB Lighting Suspended lights above meeting area: Light Culture

Finishes

Reception rugs, Rugs, Carpet & Design Work Area rugs, Space Furniture. ‘Botanic Ivy’ woven vinyl, Bolon

Fixed & FiTTed Plants, Plants by Frenchams

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

Everything Old Is New Again (EONA) is a modular table system manufactured from post-consumer recycled materials. Its outstanding environmental credentials, combined with its sleek and timeless design, makes EONA ideal for conference and boardroom tables. EONA uses 100% postconsumer recycled aluminium for legs and leg support inserts, post-consumer recycled steel for outer leg supports, rails and adjustable glides. thinking.info

hot property

As the pA ce of digitA l disruption intensifies, re A group h A s boosted A gility A nd connection opportunities for 600 stA ff in their new Melbourne he A dqu A rters.

The multinational digital advertising business is the parent company of Australian residential and commercial property websites: realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au. Specialising in property, ASX-listed REA Group is streets ahead of the competition and keen to remain so.

Needing more space for growth, they teamed with interior design and architecture practice, futurespace on the fit-out. The new workplace design set about unshackling REA Group from the constraints of legacy technologies and workspaces and “better supporting their collaborative and agile way of working,” explains Angela Ferguson, futurespace managing director. With construction of the building happening in parallel there was the benefit of tailoring the workplace to REA Group’s needs.

“Blending REA Group’s lean and agile system of working in multi-disciplinary teams—with futurespace’s Activity Based Working (ABW) expertise, produced a very unique workplace—which we’ve christened—Neighbourhood Based Working (NBW),” says Nigel Dalton, REA Group’s chief information officer (CIO).

The “pivotal” role of the workspace and people is immediately observable from the visually unobtrusive reception and reinforces the valued “relationship between the customer and REA,” says Gavin Harris, futurespace design director.

Practice work floors are fashioned as “an ABW environment with neighbourhoods modelled on a classic market town,” he explains. A central main street and marketplace leads to a diverse mix of spaces on each of the four floors. Meeting rooms, casual areas, library alcoves and gathering places are but a few. Along that journey, Q Chair designed by Harris for the project as a place for reflection and or laptop use, is one of many seating types conducive to different modes of working.

On Level 3 a large hub references the concept of a town hall and highlights “the importance placed on making spaces dynamic and able to do many things” says Harris. Case in point is the ability to present to a group from the stadium or in reverse with people seated. Similarly, a screen designed to conceal the café doubles as a projection backdrop. REA Group’s much anticipated quarterly hack days—which harness each staff member’s passion for innovation and creativity— are staged in The Hub or in the ground floor’s dedicated training amenities. These themed forums have resulted in a raft of initiatives, such as a website that unites services for the homeless.

A central staircase invites easy connection over three levels, while smart design generated extra floor area to the side of the stair – on the half landing in between floors. “Each space has a different reason for being to encourage people to move around the floor,” says Harris. “It’s about trying to multiply that random bump-in factor and interaction between neighbourhoods.” That helps to cultivate innovation.

opener Collaborative work space located off the marketplace with Schiavello kush lounges and the Q lounge from CULT previous Waiting Area, with reception in background. The video wall installation was designed and developed by Downstream—linking REA’s history and forward thinking I to its advertising process below View from the lift lobby toward the reception: the rear wall is open to the larger workspace, connecting the visitor to the greater REA work process—showing transpacey to process. The 3D wall graphic is a stylised Melbourne cityscape

“That sheer chance of bumping into each other and simple conversation gives REA Group a competitive advantage,” Dalton adds. It’s how a lead on a disruptive technology or development for example, might be passed on, and otherwise not. “Communication is the central currency of our organisation: You have to communicate well to move fast—and innovation today moves fast.”

Aiding that is the thirty or so super-flexible agile walls, designed by Harris in partnership with Schiavello. “The agile walls were a creative solution to the big challenge of facilitating REA’s process of working on walls and collaboration in an open working environment with limited vertical space,” explains Harris.

Their mobile design empowers people to move them to wherever they’re working on projects. Visually planning projects and sharing ideas on the agile walls brings everyone up to speed quickly about “what’s happening, where things are at and who they need to talk to about what,” Ferguson points out.

Another conversation starter is the Innovation Hub—a place where people can consider wondrous past or new technologies on display—and how they might disrupt or potentially be implemented by REA Group. “It’s where the next gen technologies are inspired that will change the nature of property,” asserts Dalton.

Teams do have neighbourhoods but “no staff member owns any real estate in the workplace,” says Ferguson, “people are free to work anywhere.” Instead, individuals are allocated a locker and “the laptop becomes the freedom machine,” enthuses Dalton. “We need to be relevant in 10 years time and all we know is that we need to be flexible, so nothing is welded down.” The clean desk policy harks back to Dalton’s efficient workplace philosophies—founded in car manufacturing as well as providing an uncluttered and more welcoming environment.

above left The central marketplace with the connecting stair and lounge pods. The connection of the agile working environment to the market place assists in REA’s ‘just in time’ work process above Multiple work setting along the central market: The Prooff SitTable allows for meetings with groups, the Kayt Cabana from Schiavello provides a private meeting space with insulated acoustics

“Blending REA Group’s lean and agile system of working in multi-disciplinary teams— with futurespace’s ABW expertise, produced a very unique workplace”

Nigel DaltoN

Influencing every decision and driving REA Group’s innovative spirit is the company’s passion for property and purpose, stated on their website as, “empowering people by making property simple, efficient and stress free.” A restrained material palette and domestic details on meeting room doors for example, remind staff that they’re working with properties owned by people. While colour blocking draws on REA’s secondary palette as a device to evoke “different feelings for different areas,” says Harris.

As a global business that also owns and operates Chinese property site myfun.com and European sites casa.it, atHome.lu and immoRegion.fr—REA Group connects Australia, Italy, China and Luxembourg via hi-speed Cisco video that’s integrated into the building structure. Transportable screens are located “in the backyard” (as the village moves further from the marketplace), and fixed screens in meeting rooms, creating an “almost physical” connection quality with remote staff.

The overall solution is the sum of many parts that effectively balances “the need to address people, place and technology with equal importance,” says Ferguson. For REA Group “we’re always looking for new ways to do our core business—to sustain innovation,” says Dalton. However it’s the disruptive technologies that can cause the most worry. “But this interior fit-out architecture helps address that —because we’re talking about those things all of the time.”

Share your thoughts on the REA project at indesignlive.com/rea

Marg Hearn is a Melbourne-based writer on architecture, design and property.

Architect Futurespace

Builder Buildcorp Interiors

Project MAnAger Montlaur

engineering Service S

Medland Metropolis

Br Anding Brand Institute

totAl Floor AreA 7055 m2

Future SPAce futurespace.com.au

Furniture

Task chairs, breakout area, floor seats, cushions, dining tables, coffee tables, Schiavello. Executive chair, task chairs, waiting chair, task stool, lounge, floor lamps, Living Edge. Training, café, meeting room chairs and armchairs, breakout sofas, lounge chairs, high stools, poofs, training room tables, meeting room tables, Cult Meeting room chairs, coat stand, Stylecraft Tea chairs, Zennith. ‘Vitra’ arm chair, Unifor Vitra. Parents chair, welcome coffee tables, Jardan. Outdoor chair, Tait. Modular lounge,

coat and umbrella stands, Envoy. Library coffee tables, DesignbyThem

First aid bed, All Salon Supplies

‘Metronaps’ energy pod, Metro Naps Rugs, Designer Rugs

lighting

Stair landing floor lamp, Euroluce. Pendant floor lamp, Artemide. Library pendant light, ECC. Boardroom luminaire, JSB Lighting

Fini She S

Paint throughout: Dulux . Partition plasterboard, CSR Ceilector Ceiling

Solutions. Meeting room ceilings: perforated plasterboard, Décor Systems

Carpet general throughout: Interface. Stone throughout: Alternative Surfaces

Brickwork throughout: PGH Bricks + Pavers

‘Accolade’ rubber flooring, Armstrong

Commercial. Staircase: perforated mesh, Décor Systems. Pinboard joinery:

‘EcoPanel’, Woven Image. Timber partitions, Austral Plywoods. Glass throughout: Viridian Smoke Control

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

Systems. Laminate throughout: The Laminex Group Halifax Vogel. Bathroom mirror, Vetro Glass. Blinds throughout: Verosol. Upholstery throughout: Kvadrat

Maharam Woven Image

Fixed & Fitted

‘Chiller’ fridge, Skope Underbench, integration, freestanding ‘Fisher & Paykel’ fridges, integrated microwave, sink, ‘Smeg’ integrated dishwasher, oven, cooktop an range hood, Harvey Norman Commercial Hydrotap, Zip. Coffee machine, Nespresso Tea point bin, Sulo. Waste bins, Häfele Shower and basin mixers, Caroma. Wall hung basin, ‘Mizu’ floor waste, Reece Mirror, towel dispenser, soap dispenser, shower curtain, JD Macdonald. Towel rail, door stop, entry door pull handles, joinery handles, Madinoz. Shower cubicle partitions, TPI Commercial Joinery. ‘REAL’ combination locks, Real Locks + Security Planters, Koskela. Ground surface indicators, Equibuilt

PreviouS Looking down onto a lounge pod connected to the central stairwel

ABove Looking over the central stair, which creates visual connection amongst numerous levels and also provides a meeting location with mid-floor lounge pods

Sit Back and Let Colour Work for You.

AKIN to a transmitter, the colour in our built environment directly influences our moods, our behaviors, and our work styles. Achromatic palettes translate best in quiet spaces, providing calm moments of rest, while bold colours saturate space to define dynamic, collaborative environments. Most spaces exist in a safe realm between these two extremes.

Well suited for numerous environments, Shaw Contract Group’s Color at Work collection is a gentle push to embrace the bold. “Colour plays a significant role in our lives and in our surroundings – whether at home, work or play,” says Shaw Contract Group General Manager Paul McCosker.

“Subliminal and instinctive, colour creates a vibe and sets the mood; it energizes, stimulates and motivates and it helps us collaborate.

“Colour shapes our experience and as designers, motivates and inspires new ways of thinking about interior spaces.

“Color at Work merges fields of colour and pixelated pattern to create the framework for your open canvas. It encourages you to be brave with colour with its extensive palette of possibilities,” says Paul.

Creative installation options abound with Color at Work with 23 x 92 cm and 46 x 92cm carpet tile products, and because one size does not fit all the collection allows for merging and mixing of products, regardless of size or scope.

The base of the Color at Work collection is the achromatic tile, a 46 x 92cm tile available in five colours that combines an infinite geometric pattern in a dynamic overlay.

The duotone tile is a large-scale 46 x 92cm tile that combines saturated colour and subtle neutrals in an ombre wash transitioning colours to neutral in a seamless layout. Available in 10 colours.

The saturate tile subtly mixes and merges on the floor in a svelte 23 x 92 cm plank available in 15 colours while the 23 x 92 cm value tile is a bold, expression pattern where hues overlap creating the illusion of pixilation and subtle colourplay, available in 10 colours.

For more inF ormation please visit shawcontractgroup.com.au

Specifier: Kerry Hill Architects Pty Ltd

|

Photo: Angus Martin Photography

FIFTH DIMENSION

Karara Capital at 101 Collins, Melbourne uses a K aleidos Cope of Colour and light to M a K e just the right stateMent to its Clientele.

opener The ‘reception’ passageway doubles as a gallery for the firm’s fabulous art collection.

Visible from left are works by Bill Anderson and Hannah Quinlivin

previous Above

Previously a training centre for a law firm, Molecule restructured the main office space to include a ‘black box’ encompassing stationery closet, meeting room, bathrooms and storage

previous below A reflective film coating the glass faÇade creates a ricochet of colour and light into the conference rooms.

Visible from here is Bill Anderson’s circular work and reflected to the left, two paintings by Minnie Pwerle right The graphic interplay between black becomes a crisp, clean backdrop for the client’s art collection

When timing is tight and the parameters limited, it sometimes takes one bold move to pull off the whole show. l ike the proverbial pink bow on the birthday present, the concept for molecule’s workplace fit-out for Karara c apital in melbourne’s c Bd is designed around a single, bold architectural statement that neatly ties the project together.

Tasked with designing a new office for Karara, molecule was given a fairly open-ended brief limited only by site—a commercial office space set on the 33 rd level of 101 collins—and Karara’s requirement to structurally separate their client liaison zone from their internal office space.

Timings were tight and the office’s basic layout already established by its previous tenant. Kitchen and desking remained similarly located, to keep major works such as plumbing to a minimum. here team members work in an open-plan space on heightadjustable desks, the wrap-around views of the city opening the space outward, the kitchen zone providing an informal meeting area. Breaking up the otherwise traditional workspace is a large black box: this is Karara’s central services pod and contains stationery closet, bathrooms, storage and meeting room.

“We really had to push for the dark palette,” say codirectors a nja de spa and r ichard fleming of molecule. “it was going to give it that point of difference; where most workplaces use colour, we knew there was a significant art collection that would be featured as part of the fit-out, so we strove to keep colour out.”

The art collection comes into play in the main ‘reception’ area, a long, quiet passageway hung with a curated selection of art works. facing this is a series of neighbouring meeting rooms, cleverly contained

“We knew there was a significant art collection... so we strove to keep colour out”

anja de spa & richard fleming

behind a stepped glass façade. Stretching 16 metres, the façade is cut into a series of kinks that cleverly refract light and colour—almost like a kaleidoscope— pulling you down the length of the passageway toward a bright square of light. Stepping into this space is akin to stepping into an art gallery.

Molecule formed the façade using physical models. “The digital model was too abstract to tune the design properly, so we tested it by using folded paper,” says Fleming. “The folding is all around the even proportion, which you actually lose on first and last panels—these are unfolded to run parallel with the facing wall. It’s variable but you don’t pick up on that, it doesn’t appear randomised.”

The effect is quite beautiful and curious, the shifting, refracting images pulling the light in and directing the viewer down and through. Art pieces and flooring alike move into the fifth dimension, the latter lapping at the façade in a fascinating ‘tidal effect’. “The illusion of it, you appreciate at different points,” says Fleming. “You even have these moments where the lines merge as one to create a cube effect.”

As de Spa reflects: “It’s been interesting to look back at this concept and realise that when a project moves so quickly you really need to make that bold move early on, and the whole project comes from that.”

Share your thoughts on the Karara Capital project at indesignlive.com/kararacapital

above Karara brought many furniture pieces from their original fit-out, with Molecule refinishing select items such as the boardroom table to reflect the fit-out’s new palette below Karara’s small team of employees made a special request for height-adjustable desking, allowing them to sit or stand while working

Karara capital

architect Molecule

services engineer ECM

builder MRU Construction

total Floor area : 450 m2

molecule moleculeweb.com

Furniture

In general throughout: Baseline Zenith CULT Porcelain Bear existing

lighting

In general throughout: Inlite Artemide

Finishes

Timber flooring, Tongue n Groove. Carpet, Godfrey Hirst Victoria Carpets. Paint, Dulux . Joinery, Laminex Formica Thermopal

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

Alice Blackwood is Melbourne Editor of Indesign.

WORKPLACE AMPLIFIED

Designing for a company whose lifebloo D is music anD auDio technology requireD a heightene D sensitivity to acoustics, as well as catering to a youthful, creative workforce.

architect KinZo location Berlin | deU ProJect soUnd cloUd

words stePhen craFti PhotograPhy werner hUthmacher

opener Seating nooks can be found on each level at Sound Cloud for quick and informal meetings— all of which are acoustically treated

ABoVe The bar located on the top level doubles as both a work area and as a breakout space for evening functions

rIGHT The reception area is framed by built-in timber benches and is used as both a meeting and waiting area

Architects spend a considerable amount of time fine-tuning spaces. However, when it came to designing a new office fit-out for Sound Cloud, a tech company specialising in audio streaming services, controlling sound, as well as creating an engaging work environment, was fundamental.

When Sound Cloud briefed Kinzo, the guidelines included not only a flexible work environment for their 220 staff, but a healthy workplace that had a sense of home. However, top of their list was attention to sound. “Given the work we do, it was paramount to understand our sound requirement, whether it was materials absorbing sound or work spaces challenging just the right amount of sound,” says Emily Lannon, Head of Office and Facilities at Sound Cloud.

With most of the staff—almost 85 per cent—either coming from the music industry or having a passion for music, Kinzo was acutely aware that this project went beyond spatial qualities. “When you’re working with an existing building, there are also the unknown factors and the unexpected when you start removing the ‘guts’ and revealing the structure,” says architect Chris Middleton, a partner at Kinzo, who worked closely with Kinzo’s project architect Timo Nerger. “The other issue was that the space (4,000 square meters) had also been renovated and added to in an adhoc way over the years,” adds Nerger, referring to the building’s history, which included a brewery contained within a late 19th Century pile.

From the moment staff or clients enter the five-level building, via a gentle side ramp, that sound comes into play. The storage lockers, surrounding reception, are clad in acoustic rippled foam. This not only reduces sound in the raw concrete reception area, but also provides a cue as to what lies ahead. And if one elevates

“If someone is taking a nap, there’s usually a candle placed outside the door”

Emily l annon

previous The open plan offices are surprisingly quiet, due to the overhead lighting system customised to reduce noise emission below Built-in seating is even provided as part of the staff lockers

one’s gaze upwards, the ceiling on the third floor is conceived as a ‘sound wave’—also the company’s logo. It is made from a German product called ‘sauerkraupt latte’, a straw-like material, one of whose main properties is sound absorption. So when the DJ booth literally unfolds on this level every Friday night, the main café and social gathering space isn’t just a sea of young enthusiastic musos/staff struggling to be heard.

The same consideration for sound emission can be seen in the open plan workspaces that are located on each level. Each office wing, for example, includes lockers with a built-in nook covered in both felt and foam. “If staff want to use their phones without bothering others, it’s a quiet enclave that traps sound,” says Lannon. And mindful of health, as well as respect for colleagues, a water station is integral to each booth. As well as the open plan work areas, Kinzo included a number of glass-walled enclosed offices and conference areas at each level, capable of accommodating 15 people at a time. The architects also worked closely with lighting designers Dinnebier + Blieske to control light in the shared trestle-style workstations. Also made from sauerkraupt latte, these chunky pendant lights reduce the need for partitions.

While there are the expected break-out areas found in many contemporary offices, at Sound Cloud, there are not only considerably more configurations for staff to work in but also different aural environments. One of the quietest spaces in the office is referred to as the library. As expected, there are built-in bookshelves within the pod-like module. But there are also day

ground floor plan

beds to encourage staff to have some down time. And if this isn’t peaceful enough, there’s the option of the nap room, a fully enclosed room, complete with bunk-style beds and curtains. “If someone is taking a nap, there’s usually a candle placed outside the door,” says Lannon.

Other quiet nooks at Sound Cloud include a phonelike booth and even an expression room where mothers can feed their babies. However, as important as the quiet spaces are the meeting areas. One of the most used areas is referred to as the classroom, a theatrettestyle conference space on the third level that has its own entrance to the street. Accommodating up to 60 people, the classroom features podium-style seating and windows with retractable white boards. This allows freedom to scrawl on all the walls, as well as reducing sound coming from the street.

However, the importance of sound at Sound Cloud comes to the fore on the fourth level. While staff are bashing a ping pong ball across the net in one room, nearby are musicians (staff or up-and-coming talent) recording in the company’s recording studio, something that is at the heart of Sound Cloud’s owners’ (Eric Wahlforss and Alex Ljung) raison d’être. “There’s an opportunity for artists to be discovered but as importantly, for staff to express their musical talents,” says Nerger.

Share your thoughts on the Sound Cloud project at indesignlive.com/soundcloud

right

soundcloud

Architect KINZO

Acoustic Pl Anner Akustikbüro

Rahe + Kraft GmbH

lighting Pl Anner Dinnebier + Blieske

technicAl Building services

Häfner Ingenieure GmbH

electriciAns Elaro GmbH

Budget € 3.2m

time to comPlete 30 months

totAl Floor AreA 4000 m2

KinZo Berlin kinzo-berlin.de

Furniture

Office equipment generally throughout: PLY Unestablished

Furniture, Hamburg. ‘Aeron’ swivel chair, Herman Miller

‘UNIT’ table, planmöbel. Seating furniture generally throughout:

Verzelloni Hay Erik Jörgensen

‘Prouvé’ bistro, Vitra

Finishes ‘Steelcut Trio’, Kvadrat

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

lighting ‘Outsider’ floor lamps, Jacco Marris. ‘Krautleuchte’ ceiling lamp, Heraklith. Switches, Berker 1930

Fixed & Fitted

Interior fittings generally throughout: Daniel Peters

Möbelbau, Dealfair GmbH, kubix Gesellschaft für Entwicklung und Produktion temporärer Bauten mbH, Zimmerservcie Scheuerling + Neumann GbR

Stephen Crafti is Indesign’s Melbourne Correspondent.

An intimate lounge area on the top level provides yet another space for staff to meet or simply chill out

SIT BOY

Design your own Mix and match the colours and materials of the Baker Stool’s seat, legs and foot ring to create your perfect perch.

www.imo.co.nz of

Touch

DESIGNED for use in short bursts of activity, Touch is an evolution of the work chair.

Developed in collaboration with Jones & Partners, the Touch chair is infused with lightness, fluidity and hidden complexity and is constructed from both recycled and recyclable materials.

The chair shell is a complex injection moulding that was carefully developed through many iterations, from card and paper models, CNC foam and fiberglass prototypes prior to investment in tooling.

The Touch chair features a white polypropylene shell with a polished four star cast aluminium base with adjustable height.

It comes in three different seating options: bare shell, seat pad upholstered, seat pad and backrest upholstered.

The dimensions of the Touch chair in mm are; H: 925-1015 W: 500-580 D: 550.

Community ServerS

architect arnold lane location melbourne | aus proJect interactive

words lorenzo logi photography nicole england

“The whole building is about attracting and retaining the best staff”

christopher ride

Arriving at Interactive on a Friday afternoon to a dining area filled with employees happily munching on the entries of a baking contest, the scene seems almost staged. And yet, the jovial, communal environment is the result of a distinct company culture, manifested in the workplace’s design.

With more and more of our personal and commercial data stored ‘in the cloud’, the importance of data servers holding cloud applications is vital, and the competition to provide the most secure and reliable IT cloud services is fierce. In the collective imagination, however, data centres are still bunker-like structures packed with servers, bathed in cold air and ominous artificial light, associated with equally uninspiring working environments.

Interactive, the largest privately owned Australian IT firm, specialising in cloud IT managed services, disaster recovery and applications development, breaks this mould. Its latest office fit-out, in a building owned and solely occupied by the company in Port Melbourne, demonstrates a deep appreciation to both aesthetic and functional design principles. The structure, including a state-of-the-art data centre and central plant with generators, is the latest iteration of a relationship between Interactive and Arnold Lane architects born in 2004, when they first collaborated on Interactive’s Sydney office design.

Since then they have worked together on multiple workplaces across the country, evolving the brief for each new project. Port Melbourne, as the newest office for a company boasting a quarter-century of unbroken annual double-digit growth, is superbly resolved, with an attention to detail that speaks of both passion and the value placed on design.

“I think that the unique aspect of [the Port Melbourne office] compared to what [Interactive

have] done previously was the value of design and what they wanted to achieve as a design outcome,” comments Christopher Lane, director at Arnold Lane. “It was probably a greater response to how the market had changed with ABW—more of a relaxed office environment,” he adds.

The brief for the project, beyond specific technical parameters required to attain certification as a highresilience data centre facility, was to create the best possible work environment for employees. Christopher Ride, managing director of Interactive, explains that: “the whole building is about attracting and retaining the best staff. We know that they’re more likely to pick the place where they want to work rather than the company being able to pick them.”

One area Interactive were eager to explore was alternatives to fixed-desk work configurations, and so with the assistance of Arnold Lane the company trialled an open-plan, paperless, hot-desk based arrangement prior to the new build. “Different teams—sales, support, finance, marketing, product development— were all moved through that space over a period of 12 months, and each group was encouraged to provide feedback in terms of what worked, what didn’t work, what we needed to address,” says Lane.

The response to staff’s feedback was to tailor a hybrid flexible/fixed workplace that caters to creative, client, technical, human resources and accounting teams according to their needs, allowing for mobility whilst still providing privacy and storage where required. This included collaborative spaces set amongst workstations, quiet areas, smart desk areas, quiet rooms, meeting rooms, lounges with varying seating options, a full suite of food and beverage options, and even a substantial terrace area with bi-fold doors to connect it to indoor space.

opener Interactive pairs more traditional workstations with contemporary, flexible work environments previous The workplace is divided into zones for each team, which are identified by colour and tailored to each team’s needs above left The main staircase is flanked by a slide which acts as a metaphor for finding fast, efective solutions to challenges above right Technology is integrated seamlessly into both the structure and work processes

this page Subtle, refined aesthetic elements characterise less formal areas such as the kitchen and outdoor areas opposite The combination of natural illumination, rich finishes and luxury furnishings immedately creates a tone of quality and attention to detail in the reception waiting area

Not surprisingly, given the company’s nature, technology was a focus for the new space: “We can plan for mobility but the technology has to be there to support that mobility, and where Interactive previously were very much ‘fixed-point PC, go into meeting rooms and have to log on’, staff now have total mobile capacity with wireless systems throughout the building, and really almost no one has a requirement to be in a specific spot,” Lane explains. The jewel in the tech crown, however, is the 100-seat auditorium and ‘Design Factory’ which features a super highdefinition touch screen media wall (the largest in Australia) that permits instant cloud collaboration. What once might have been derided as a geek toy, is now envied as a geek toy.

Beyond the workspace configuration’s impact on collaboration, flexibility and efficiency, the consistently high quality of staff areas elevates the sensory experience of the space. Lane reflects: “The company’s been, in terms of aesthetic, always a professional corporate environment, focused on ensuring the touch points for the staff and the clients are high quality.” As such, furnishings, finishes and lighting have a boutique hotel feel, and staff areas have been arranged so as to maximise ceiling heights and natural light. Ride sums it up neatly, saying: “When you walk in you should be able to feel that you’re part of an organisation that appreciates quality, and that things have to be done to a level of perfection. You should know it and you should feel it.”

Ultimately, a workplace’s built environment ought to reflect a company’s culture, and for Interactive, community is key. “They’re a company that really focuses on that sense of community – it’s not just a workplace,” says Lane. And, if the cakes, conversation and laughter of the bake-off are any indication, the Interactive community is a vibrant one.

Share your thoughts on the Interactive project at indesignlive.com/interactive

Lorenzo Logi is Managing Editor of Indesign

interactive

architect Arnold Lane

Builder Vaughan Constructions

structural consultant Aecom access consultant Bernie Cohen av consultant UNIFIED AV

Joiner Schiavello and Prima

Architectural Joinery

Base Building architect

Watson Young

time to complete 26 months

total Floor area 4500 m2

arnold l ane arnoldlane.com

Furniture

Workstations throughout: ‘ARRAS System’, Living Edge. Storage throughout: ‘KASE System’, Schiavello. Task seating and seminar furniture, Wilkhahn KE-ZU

Meeting and boardroom furniture, Living Edge Wilkhahn. Client area furniture:

Living Edge HUB Dedece Stylecraft

DOMO. Collaborative furniture: Own World

Living Edge CULT Stylecraft. Quiet Room furniture: Temperature Design KE-ZU

Living Edge CULT. Café furniture: Own World HUB Café Culture + Insitu Outdoor terrace: Dedece Own World Tait Furniture Stylecraft

lighting

‘Panos LM’ ceiling recessed luminaire, ‘Panos A LF’ surfaced mounted exterior light, ‘Mellow V’ recessed ceiling light, Zumtobel. ‘Modular’ tubed LED downlights and recessed ceiling lights, ‘Red Square’ high output ribbon, ‘Duell Exterior’ terrace light, ‘Kove Professional’ surface mounted amenities lights, JSB Lighting. ‘Find me Mono Flos’ recessed adjustable, Euroluce Ceiling recessed and rod suspender linear light, Klik Systems. ‘Mimi-B KKDC’ LED strip lighting, Light Projects. Staff café custom pendant lighting, Darkon PL . Collaborative area ‘Canopy 421’ pendant lighting, Oluce ‘Caravagio 400mm’ pendant lighting, CULT Coffee point ‘Tula Nano’ pendant lighting, ECC. Reception ‘Trion’ ceiling, TFL wall washers, Erco. ‘Prolge Kreon’ boardroom and MD lights, Dedece. Amenities: ‘Tube Starr & Hydra’ Surface Mounted LED downlight, ‘Nanolite’ above mirror, Inlite

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

Finishes

Carpet throughout: Interface. Feature carpets: Tretford Gibbon Group Whitecliffe Imports. Terrazzo throughout: ARDEX . Timber veneer throughout: Eveneer New Age Veneers. Tiles throughout: Calibre Concepts Artedomus

Fabrics throughout: Kvadrat Maharam

Blinds, Verosol. Laminate throughout: Laminex . Tallowwood and oak throughout: solid timber, Shiver me Timbers. Rubber flooring, Geo Flooring. Amenity wall tiles: Classic Ceramics. Feature wall tile, Artedomus. Coffee point: satin white tiles, Better Tiles. Staff Café: ‘Terrazzo micro

Aggregate’ tile, Adrex-Pandomo. Kitchen: super white tiles, hexagonal feature tiles, Calibre Concepts. Staff Café: ‘Subway Tiles’ black, Better Tiles. Auditorium: ‘Corian’ tiles, CASF. Service areas: ‘Smaragd Nero’, Forbo Flooring. Rugs throughout: ‘Tretford’ carpets, Gibbon Group. Paint generally throughout: Dulux . Warehouse: ‘Alucabond’ cladding, Alcan Composites. Manager office: ‘Décor’ acoustic panels, Décor Systems. Amenities: ‘Echolinear’ joinery wall panels, Elton Group. Smart desk area:

‘Echopanel’, Woven Image, wrapped in fabric, Instyle. Stone amenities, Caeserstone. Banquette seating: fabric, Kvadrat . ‘Vienna’ leather, Pelle Leathers

Fixed & Fitted

All floors: ‘Luxalon’ Hunter Douglas. Data and EPS rooms: ‘Luxalon’ metal tile systems, Hunter Douglas. Drawer joinery throughout: Halliday + Baillie Industrial Expression. Reception desk: Madinoz

Amenities: sensor taps, Billi. Mounted tap, Zip Industries. Toilet roll holders, Washroom Accessories. ‘Trimline’ paper towel dispenser, Bobrick . Flushing systems, basins, urinals, Caroma . Soap dispensers, Bobrick . Accessible WC: soap dispenser, ‘Contura’, shower curtain, RBA Group. Coffee point: ‘Oliveri’ undermount sink, Winning Appliances. ‘Hettich’ pantry drawer, Hettich. Double dish drawer, AstiveSmart Fridge, Fisher & Paykel

Undercounter chiller, Skope. Staff café: ‘Miele’ microwave oven, Winning Appliances. Lockers: staff area lockers, Interloc Lockers. ‘Eames’ coat racks, Living Edge

The Art of Making with Instyle

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These textiles are manufactured locally, are rich in New Zealand and Australian wool, and have been developed with integrity at their core, offering superb quality.

The concepts that underpin the collection are simplicity and provenance. Age-old techniques are used in a modern context to create timeless designs.

Moving away from flat colour finishes, the collection creates a sensory experience, placing emphasis back on intuition and encouraging us to touch and engage with surfaces.

MUSe is a distinctive new design from the sustainable LIFe Textiles collection that epitomises simplicity and the provenance of traditional manufacturing. With an innovative colour direction, MUSe is an effortlessly beautiful and highly versatile

modern classic that is ideal for both contemporary and traditional pieces.

COCOON is a celebration of texture. This soft and luxurious textile provides a tactile experience with its exaggerated surface formed by a pronounced boucle yarn. The beautiful and understated palette is inspired by wet sand, stony hues embedded in layers of rock, sea mist and damp moss.

TAILOR is a contemporary and classic textile inspired by the sartorial tradition and fine craftsmanship. Woven from a mélange yarn, the sophisticated textile features a subtle heathered texture. The colour palette includes classic neutrals and rich navy and plum hues referencing the colouration of fashion trends. TAILOR has a smooth, matt appearance that emphasises the form of furniture and the palette works perfectly with timber and other modern finishes.

All of these designs can be fused seamlessly into a scheme, creating layers of texture and subtle pattern.

For more inF ormation please visit instyle.com.au

Modular and demountable acoustic wall and ceiling panelling including Echolinear Echocustom Cloudakustik 60×60 ⁄ 60×120 Letwood Ise

13 00 133 4 81 eltongroup.com

Acoustic Panelling

REGIONAL

A PROMINENT LEGAL PRACTICE ROLLS OUT REGIONAL OFFICES WHICH HAVE THEIR OWN IDENTITY WHILE REMAINING PART OF THE TEAM.

opener A folded, perforated metal screen embraces the stairway, lit by a Barrisol light which changes colour throughout the day

Above The spacious client reception area celebrates visual connection to the city and its western hinterland right The main breakout space connects to smaller, more intimate spaces, breaking up the large floorplate

In Indesign #57 I reviewed the new Sydney offices for prominent legal firm, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, located in the bold and innovative 8 Chifley Square tower. The architecture was by Lord Richard Rogers and Sydneybased Ed Lippmann, but the workplace design was by Bates Smart who is also designing roll-outs for Corrs in other Australian cities.

But these are not simply roll-outs of a new, standardised office: they are roll-outs of a whole new workplace culture, sensitively calibrated to reflect the location and specific character of each regional office for Australia’s oldest independent law firm. This is Corrs revolutionising the way they work, how they interface with clients, and how they see themselves as an adaptive national legal practice with global reach in the early part of the 21st Century.

Many businesses have embraced ‘agile working’, but for a long time lawyers and accountants remained cautious about abolishing offices due to privacy issues and the feeling that there was value in having an office.

However, the commercial environment is constantly evolving and Corrs reached the conclusion that change in their workplace culture was essential, partly because the environment in which they were working had changed, but also because there was the potential for added value if they rethought the way they worked and moved to an open and flexible environment. Essentially, this meant promoting greater transparency, more collaboration and enhanced flexibility with respect to workplace options—in other words, an agile workplace tailored to the specific needs of a legal practice. The transparency was partly about their clients, for whom physical transparency—being able to come into the office and see how it all works—not only made them feel a valued part of the business, but was also analogous to professional transparency. At the same time, a transparent office implies teamwork and knowledge sharing, which happen to be especially important in a legal practice.

Corrs reached the conclusion that change in their workplace culture was essential.

paul mCgillick

This is a fit-out with a very spacious feel, enhanced by the sense of living in the sky...

paul mCgillick

Previous The central connecting stairway becomes a decorative feature generating both transparency and privacy left A soft, restrained palette marks the client meeting rooms where the wall finishes employ the recurring diamond motif

All change, however, needs to be managed and Bates Smart realised early on that if staff were to lose their valuable office with its privacy and status, they would need to be given something even more valuable in exchange. What that involved, both in Sydney and now in the Brisbane office, was high quality finishes and materials throughout the office, a wide range of meeting rooms and quiet rooms offering appropriate privacy, along with the latest technology and top quality amenities. Epitomising this strategy are the custom-designed workstations with their high quality leather, fabric and timber veneer finishes, practically a home-away-from-home, mixing privacy with a sense of being part of the workplace community.

Like Sydney, Corrs Brisbane is located in a unique building—One One One Eagle Street by Cox Rayner— and, as with Sydney, the Bates Smart design responds to the base building. This ensures a congruence between the fit-out and the building, as well as giving the Brisbane office its own local identity. Coincidentally, the assertive, triangulated, extruded cherry red steel columns of the Sydney building have their equivalence in Brisbane, except that here the columns are white and are situated inside the glass curtain wall of the building, lending texture to the interiors and subtly editing the astonishing views.

However, One One One Eagle Street also has its own external columns which curvaceously reference the fig trees on the street. These columns on the façade of the building light up at night and are classified as public art. They quietly soften the otherwise rigorous steel and glass building, so Bates Smart have discreetly referenced the columns in the interiors, along with a colour palette drawing inspiration from the great Barrier Reef to quietly lend the fit-out a sense of its own particular location.

a s in Sydney, the interiors pick up on the building’s structural character in Bates Smart’s typically understated, but elegant, way. Hence, the diamondshapes louvres for the sunscreen, the rugs, wall finishes, upholstery, floor tiles and stairwell glazing all share subtle triangular motifs giving the whole fit-out a tacit coherence. The gentle angularity of this graphic strategy is then off-set by the naturalness of soft-toned timber joinery used throughout.

This is a fit-out with a very spacious feel, enhanced by the sense of living in the sky with sensational views out over Brisbane’s western hinterland, the city and eastwards over the river. This is apparent immediately when one steps out of the glass lift and into the generous and relaxed client reception area. The circulation around the central connecting stairway is equally relaxed, culminating in the classy main breakout area which is quietly connected to an intimate book-lined library space.

Such moments of intimacy are found throughout this fit-out which is otherwise highly transparent, open and so directly linked to the outside. It shares a variety of strategies with its Sydney office— thus delicately projecting the Corrs ‘brand’—but equally it succeeds in being very much a part of its Queensland context.

corrs chambers Westgarth - brisbane

architect Bates Smart structural engineer Arup services engineer Medland Metropolis lighting designer Electrolight main contractor Buildcorp Project manager Pepper

total Floor area 5904 m2

bates smart batessmart.com

Furniture Workstation ‘On Chair’ task chair, Wilkhahn Meeting room ‘Herman Miller Eames Aluminium’ chair, InnerSpace. ‘Knoll’ boardroom, reception, break-out chairs, reception side table, Dedece. ‘Giorgetti

Derby’ reception sofa, Space Furniture ‘Naos’ boardroom table, Unifor

lighting

Reception: Flos ‘Tab’ floor light, Euroluce

Boardroom: Flos ‘Spun’ table light, Euroluce. Break-out Area: Jeremy Cole ‘Aloe’ pendant light, Jeremy Cole

Finishes

Reception: Custom rug, Designer Rugs ‘Formnation’ ceiling panels, Design Source Stone slab, Skheme. ‘Anthra-Zinc’ wall cladding, VMZINC. Marble throughout, Euro Marble. Timber veneer throughout, Fethers. ‘Xanadue / Helidor’ wallpaper, Unique Fabrics. ‘DuPont’ joinery, CASF Laminate throughout: Laminex . Wall lining vinyl, Kvadrat Maharam

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

Paul McGillick is a Sydney-based freelance writer on architecture, art and design.

Share your thoughts on the Corrs Chambers Westgarth Brisbane project at indesignlive.com/corrsbrisbane

beloW The small, cosy library opposite the stair void is private, yet feels connected to the main breakout area

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GOLDEN FLEECE

The urban renewal of The w ools T ores a lexandria demons T raT es a sensi T ive pairing of heri Tage s T ruc T ures wi T h con T emporary elemen T s, and has creaT ed a precinc T-defining design hub.

words sophia watson photography tyrone Branigan

architect the world is roUnd, gray pUKsand, woods Bagot location sydney | aUs proJect the woolstores aleXandria

It’s no secret that Sydney’s design hotspots are changing. This is a result of many things: market and audience, cost and affordability, space and location. But more than anything, it’s a sign of growth.

Alexandria is fast becoming Sydney’s designprecinct du jour, and is well positioned to give the design market what it needs. A true hub of creativity, The Woolstores Alexandria development is now at the heart of one of the most exciting urban renewal projects in Australia, and Sydney’s design insiders are moving fast.

“Gray Puksand was engaged by the developer Trumen Corp to investigate the site options and prepare master planning,” says Gray Puksand Partner, Scott Moylan. As an area characterised by industrial development typically dating from the post-war era, the site was originally made up of multiple woolstores built along the frontage to Alexandra Canal. The woolstores had largely been vacant since the early ‘80s and were in varying states of disrepair. In fact, three of these sheds are now classified as heritage items. Moylan and the Gray Puksand team recognised the value of the traditional design language immediately, and so the task become not one of ‘new’ development, but of revitalisation.

“Typical of the industrial vernacular, the sheds are of single-storey height, rectilinear in plan form, with gable ends. Originally clad in weatherboard, this has now largely been removed and overclad in corrugated sheeting. Internally, the sheds retain the original hardwood timber, including columns, framing and flooring. The architectural brief Gray Puksand was given was to revitalise this site and meet three key objectives: redevelop the site in accordance with council policies, guidelines and aspirations; renew the site to respond to market demand for commercial and mixed use development; and revitalise the site incorporating the unique heritage characteristics of the former woolsheds.”

opener The Woolstores Alexandria, Shed 74 exterior which is home to Living Edge (left wing) and Swarovski (right wing)

ABoVe Shed 74 shared lobby between Living Edge (left) and Swarovski (right). Featuring a timber corridor to a shared exterior decking, fit for entertaining purposes. Stairway leads to shared bathroom and entrance to Living Edge commercial showroom and working Living Offices by Herman Miller rIGHT Ground floor of the Swarovski Head Office featuring a reception lounge with a Herman Miller Wireframe Lounge set and a custom 3D rug commissioned from Designer Rugs by The World Is Round. Above is a custom Swarovski chandelier installation hanging from the atrium, commissioned by The World Is Round from the Swarovski Global Head Quarters artisans in Austria. The space also features a retail/showroom area to the left of the glass staircase, which leads to the commercial mezzanine offices.

The very back of the room is an accordian glass door system fencing off the fully data-cabled seminar space with a commercial kitchen

opposITe Level two (mezzanine) of the Living Edge commercial showroom and working Living Office concept by Herman Miller. Featuring custom flooring from Interface Australia’s Human Nature Collection throughout

This was achieved in a number of ways. For example, the heritage interiors and massing of the woolstores has been retained and enhanced through the expression of hardwood timber, and the new cladding of the sheds draws on the original weatherboards. The cathedrallike volume of the shed interiors has been emphasised by the careful introduction of natural light, full-height entrance foyers, and setback mezzanines to allow the interpretation of volume and the interplay with light and shadow. The retention of these buildings reinforces the historic rhythm of the sheds along the canal frontage, and promotes the heritage value of the site as they begin their next phase of life.

A key design element of this redevelopment was to maintain the throwback to the traditions of the area, while making the site fit for modern use. The integration of landscaping with all existing and new buildings to merge the interiors with the exteriors, for instance, provides a holistically renewed site. The internal concept was to provide contemporary workspaces with a flexibility of floor plate that enables a strong connection with the site and local community. And here, the departure from current precinct offerings in Sydney becomes clear with the solid emphasis on ‘community’ rather than space.

In addition to their role in the DA documentation, Gray Puksand worked closely with Trumen Corp to create the internal tenancy divisions. The vast volumes of internal space needed to be separated into commercial spaces without losing the beauty of the structure and access to natural light. New mezzanine floors provided flexibility of floor areas to suit diverse tenant requirements.

But one of the most important goals of Gray Puksand’s involvement was to create a canvas, which would attract a certain kind of tenant, capable of designing and using the space in line with the new benchmark and values of the precinct.

Designed by Andrew Cliffe from The World Is Round (TWIR), Swarovski’s vision for their shared half of Shed 74 was of a modern workspace and head office that mirrored the passion evident across all aspects of their brand and business. Cliffe was enlisted to create a space that matched the magnificence of the company’s product, while injecting the community-focused values prized by the identity of the new precinct.

The space needed to engage and enhance the performance of the company’s dedicated staff, as well as provide visitors with a lasting impression.

With an understanding of the benefits of agile working, Swarovski tasked TWIR with creating spaces for individual focus as well as collaboration, meetings and social activities to bring staff together. Cliffe very successfully brought the company’s vision to life using a range of products from living Edge, including pieces from Walter Knoll, PRooFF, Herman Miller and lasvit.

More than fit for purpose, the new head office houses a stellar public showroom, a private customisation and collaborative studio, refuge spaces, custom meeting spaces including relaxed, open settings and intensive group spaces, on-site repair workshop, seminar presentation rooms with commercial kitchen, a ‘mess hall’ style staff kitchen, high data-cabled meeting rooms, casual staff breakout space, customer service and reception lounge and an overall agile-working layout featuring real flora for an added natural element.

Cliffe and team Swarovski have indeed proved themsleves and their space to be a jewel in the crown (pardon the pun) of Sydney’s newest urban hot-spot.

living Edge—in collaboration with Woods Bagot’s Todd Hammond and Domenic Alvaro—have also made a sharp departure from the traditional ‘show & tell’ exhibition format of traditional precincts, geared toward an exciting new and experimental method of client engagement. Well-matched with the precinct’s growing reputation for meaningful design activity (think The

“The architectural brief was to ‘revitalise’ rather than ‘redesign’.”

SCoTT Moyl AN

Grounds, Salts Meats Cheese and so on), the Living Edge team is leading the charge by creating a space which truly connects and immerses people with design.

Principal dominic a lvaro from Woods Bagot explains that: “The Woolstores a lexandria is transforming into a stellar retail hub.” Head of Interiors, Todd Hammond continues that the Living Edge space in particular, is “all about immersion; creating volumes of space, stepping into a showroom from Herman Miller, E15 or any one of their many brands—and having an immersive experience with each of them; creating the opportunity for any visitor to properly connect with Living Edge products”.

The new a lexandria landscape is continuing to inject the area with the changing faces of our communities and, most importantly, how we interact.

The desire to live, work and play within a precinct is driving the demand for additional residential, commercial and mixed-use developments in the previously industrial area.

Now a benchmark precinct, a lexandria needs to maintain a real connection with its past. The renewal of buildings, rather than new developments alone, are critical to the fabric and identity of a lexandria. The redevelopment and renewal of the Woolstores site has indeed created a kinetic and aesthetic benchmark for future developments in the area.

THe WoolsToRes PRecinc T

BAse Building

ARcHiTec T Gray Puksand

PRojec T TeAm

Scott Moylan (Partner), Ian Hayes (Project Architect), Nicole Probhilo (Interior Design), Stewart Murray (Senior Documenter)

BudgeT: $30m

ToTAl FlooR AReA: 20,700 m2

gRAy PuksAnd graypuksand.com.au

living edge sHoWRoom

ARcHiTec T Woods Bagot

PRojec T TeAm Domenic Alvaro, Todd

Hammond, Lucy Pullin

Builde R Elan Construction

joine R Elan Construction and A.B.

Projects Retail Shelving

Woods BAgoT woodsbagot.com

FuRniTuRe

Entirely throughout: Living Edge

ligHTing

Entirely throughout: Light Practice

FinisHes

Pods: variety of timber veneers, Briggs Veneers. Bench tops: Wine bar and retail, Pop Concrete. Polished concrete floors. Boardroom: American oak ceiling and wall panelling

sWARovski sHoWRoom

ARcHiTec T The World Is Round Builde R Hamilton Projects seRvice engineeRs

Aston Consulting

WoRksTATion suPPlie R

Living Edge

joine Ry Euroline

elec TRicAl conTRAc ToR

Litemaster Electrical

PARTiTion conTRAc ToR

Choice Projects

Time To comPleTe: 8 months

ToTAl FlooR AReA: 1532 sqm

THe WoRld is Round theworldisround.com.au

FuRniTuRe

Workstation chairs, reception waiting area chairs, waiting lounges and tables, open

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

meeting seating, meeting chairs, boardroom chairs, ‘Eames table’, open lounge meeting lounge, social space chairs, ‘Cuolo Lounge’ arm chair, lounge coffee table, AV long table, stand up meeting table, opening meeting room ‘Ear Chairs’, Living Edge. Conference chairs, Zenith. Dining and café chairs, Thornet. ‘Patonga’ dining table, modular lounge, Koskela

ligHTing

Reception spot light, ‘Swarovski’ wall lights, DeDeCe. Downlights throughout, Zumtobel Corridor wall lights, Arik Levy. Boardroom suspension lights, pendant lights, ‘Waldman Ataro’ suspended worklights, meeting room ‘Bramah Lights’, ground level café ‘Lasvit Spin’ lights, Living Edge. Suspended LED lights, flos. Reception crystal installations, pendant lights, Swarovski

FinisHes

Carpet generally throughout: ‘Castilla Belmonte’ wool, Cavalier Bremworth Feature carpet rug, Designer Rugs. Vinyl throughout: Regupol. Plaster moulding, Archiprofiles. Door finish, Porters Paint Paint generally throughout: Dulux. ‘Verosol’ roller blinds, Harvey Blinds. Laminate

throughout: Laminex. Door laminate, Polytec. Reception stonework, Marblo. Café bench tops, Bisanna Tiles. Café splash back surrounds, Amber Tiles. Café splash back mirror, The Splashback Co. Utilities Bay splash back pin board, Woven Image Meeting room wall fabric, At Work with Camira. Cupboard door handles, Pittella. Locks throughout: Hafele. Hinges and drawers, Blum

Fixed And FiTTed

Café: Fridge, Microwave, Dishwasher, Electrolux. Freezer, ‘Hafele’ tea towel holder, Harvey Norman Commercial. Sink, Oliveri Tap set, Gessi Australia. Zip tap, Zip Heaters. Kitchen bins Hafele. Under bench fridges, Bar Fridges Australia. Soap dispenser, Bobrick. Ground level tap set, Galvin Engineering. Level 1 tap set, Winning Appliances. Conference Room Tea Point: Fridge, coffee machine, Appliances Online Dishwasher, Electrolux. Repair area: tap set, Galvin Engineering. Soap Dispenser, Bobrick. Level 1 Tea Point: sink, Oliveri. Tap set, Winning Appliances. Kitchen bin, Hafele. Cutlery Trays, ‘Hafele’ tea towel holder, Harvey Norman Commercial. Under bench fridges, Bar Fridges Australia

ABove Ground floor of the Living Edge showroom, designed by Woods Bagot, featuring custom brand pods and a flush wine bar against the far back wall

Sophia Watson is Editor of DQ.

artistic intent

A NEW CONTEMPORARY GALLERY BUILDS A STRONG ARTS PROGRAM IN THE BUSH-CLAD HILLS OF WEST AUCKLAND.

the name Te Uru—from Te Hau a Uru, ‘ the wind that blows from the west ’—poetically positions the new public gallery in the minds of locals. The area’s dominant wet west wind from the great Tasman Ocean crosses the bushclad ranges brushing the ridge and Gallery before dispersing across the city. As its name suggests Te Uru will bring change, set direction and share the stories of its artists with the wider region. It is a graceful analogy bestowed from local Iwi, Te Kawerau a¯ Maki, that speaks about the Gallery’s contemporary program, Ma¯ori dimension and its strong geographical context.

The commanding site, en route to the beautiful West Coast, saw Hotel Titirangi built in 1930, a tall narrow Spanish Mission-styled building with a prominent tower on the corner. Not hugely profitable, the building changed use twice and was renamed Lopdell House before the local authority bought it in the 1980s to house an arts centre and a small theatre. With the area’s notable concentration of artists, writers, potters and musicians, it developed a strong reputation and this new extension allows the gallery to expand and run a much larger public programme.

The new green-clad building, Te Uru: Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, is built just beside Lopdell House, and offers a variety and quality of exhibition and service space that the old building could not. The historic building has had a seismic upgrade and contains offices, a small community exhibition space, a revamped theatre and a new café. The two buildings stand separate with an external staircase cutting between them, linking the road frontages with an open car park three storeys below. They are linked at higher levels by two bridges—one to first floor offices and one to the reinstated roof deck of the historic building.

Like so many of the residential Modernist gems that pepper the Titirangi bush, Te Uru also uses the site vertically, stretching up six stories high to catch light and views. Its exhibition and education spaces are stacked across four floors (with workshops and storage in the lower two), ordered by a dynamic spiralling elliptical stair on the public corner: a modern reenactment of the stairwell position in Lopdell House. Galleries are interlocked in plan and section to achieve variety in height, area, light and aspect; an arrangement that deals neatly with the various program needs, while maintaining fluid, interconnected public spaces.

PrevioUs A Meccano-like stair connects the galleries at the back of the site in a vertigo-defying experience.

Photo: Simon Devitt toP Cross-section drawing showing how the structure 'steps' down from street level above The new gallery is clad in pre-coated aluminium sheets, in total contrast to historic Lopdell House. Photo: Simon Devitt

If Mitchell & Stout Architects could be said to have any defining signatures, it would have to be the physical and visual connections within the building for perfectly choreographed views across, down into and up to galleries, such as they employed so memorably in the NEW Gallery on Wellesley Street in 1995, and again in the Tauranga Art Gallery in 2007.

Despite the views south from this site, the bush can be dark and Te Uru, like a forest floor sapling on a steep site, has the competing requirements to capture the harbour views, fill itself with blank walls on which to display art, and bring in enough indirect natural light to meet optimum gallery conditions. The architects have solved this brief in ingenious ways throughout the building, but most notably in two elements: the large gallery roof lantern and diffuser, and the Meccanostyle stair clipped onto the back of the building. The glass-clad stair, with its mesmerising views of the bush and harbour, and its dizzying height, functions as architectural promenade, viewing platform and, with its dynamic skewed geometries, provides reason enough to visit the gallery.

From delicate porcelain exhibitions to interactive media to sculpture and paintings that soar skyward, Te Uru provides the means to present and develop local artists, and also to nourish their practice with local and international visitors and exhibitions.

Share your thoughts on the Te Uru Art Gallery project at indesignlive.com/teuruartgallery

Andrea Stevens is Indesign’s New Zealand Correspondent.

previoUs above

Contrasts between internal galleries and light filled stairs encourages exploration of the tall building.

Photo:

Patrick Reynolds

previo U s beloW

The fabric lantern diffuses light into the large gallery space, blending the ceiling into the walls.

Photo: Patrick Reynolds

beloW In the main entry, a shop and reception greet visitors before they move through to street-level galleries or spiral upstairs.

Te UrU WaiTakere conTemporary gallery

archiTec T Mitchell & Stout Architects

civil engineer Thorne Dwyer Structures Ltd

mechanical engineer Thurston

Consulting

elec Trical and services engineer Telco

QUaliT y sUrveyor Rider Levett Bucknall

roofing Colorsteel

ToTal floor area : 1700 m2

miTchell & sToUT archiTec Ts mitchellstoutarchitects.co.nz

fUrniTUre Reception desk, Corian. Pinboard in education space, Forbo. Generally throughout: supplied by client.

lighTing

Gallery lights, Erco Dali. Lantern in gallery, Balloon Blitz

finishes

Aluminium window joinery, Miller Design

fixed & fiTTed Soffit/Bulkheads, PBS Etercolour

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

Photo: Sam Hartnett

CS Collabrative Support

With over 30 years of experience in functional, ergonomic seating and six factories across Australia and New Zealand, Chair Solutions (CS) is uniquely positioned to offer the best and latest in seating design, including new Italian designed soft seating and visitor ranges - Pictured above in CS Brisbane Showroom. A wide scope of manufacturing, which currently produces 160,000 chairs per year, and distribution network allows for extensive customisation of designs to suit clients’ needs, and the company’s broad representation ensures both local service and consistent prices and quality.

The CS business model relies on key relationships with dealers, and the company is proud of the support they offer them. By utilising these close relationships, Chair Solutions has created exceptional products at competitive price points; namely the Team-Air (the first mesh chair certified to meet AFRDI Rated Load 160kg multi-shift) and Domino 2 (AFRDI Rated Load 135kg single-shift) were responses to insights from dealers about market demands.

These relationships involves a genuinely sharing approach – for instance some of Chair Solutions’ local dealers don’t have large work areas, so Chair Solutions (CS) gives them full use of their showrooms to bring clients and customers to use as their own - not only the products and space but office facilities, technology, even the espresso machine!

Chair Solutions and their dealers are conscious of environmental sustainability, with Good Environmental Choice Australia certification and Enviro-mark Diamond in New Zealand. As part of this sensibility, Chair Solutions utilise Ekoosh® ecofoam, which is produced with powdered recycled tyres without compromising on foam quality, resilience, or integrity, and Eco-chrome (GECA CERTIFIED)—a unique chroming process that does not involve the current electro plating or nasties like cyanide and sulphates usually associated with traditional chroming. CS Management believes a combination of passion for the industry and fascinating new product development will result in continued growth well into the future.

chairsolutions.com.au

For more inF ormation please visit chairsolutions.com.au chairsolutions.co.nz

HOUSES WITHIN

CONVERTING AN INNER-CITY WAREHOUSE INTO A GENEROUS HOME CATERING FOR VARIOUS FAMILY MEMBERS’ NEEDS PROMPTED A CONSIDERED SUBDIVISION INTO SELF-CONTAINED, BUT CONNECTED, SPACES.

opener A double-height void in the entrance creates a sense of arrival at this inner-city warehouse this page The garage/ workshop at the rear of the property is as light-filled as the home itself opposite Floor plans and elevations of the renovation exemplify the warehouse’s generous ceiling heights

Inner-city warehouses often appear in narrow streets with seedy back lanes. While this arrangement may suit young professionals, those scaling down from the suburbs often prefer wide tree-lined streets. Lynda and Joe Vella fit into this latter category. The Vellas, along with their daughter Kate, were living in a Californian bungalow in Kew, Melbourne; “We were looking for a warehouse to convert into a home for a number of years. But we didn’t want to feel hemmed in,” says Lynda Vella.

The warehouse the couple eventually decided on, a large, early 20th Century 450 square-metre structure in North Fitzroy, Melbourne, ticked most of the boxes. One of the main hiccups however, was the 450-millimetre change in level between the laneway and rear elevation. As someone who restores vintage cars, “Joe’s concern was that he wouldn’t be able to convert what was once used for offices to include a garage/workshop,” says architect Andrew Simpson, who was given the task of converting the warehouse into a home.

Fortunately, lowering the ground level at the rear was not a major problem, nor was creating a 14-metre void through the warehouse to create a shaft for both light and ventilation. And just as fortunately, there were more than sufficient original features, such as chunky timber beams and columns, to allow the past to be clearly read. “One of the challenges with reworking these warehouses are the things you don’t expect. Nothing is built squared,” says Simpson, whose design is meticulously squared-off at each junction.

Simpson approached the fit-out as ‘houses within a house’. There’s Kate’s domain, a self-contained apartment at ground level. Featuring a bedroom, a central living area, kitchen and bathroom, the only division in the space is a steel fabricated wall between bedroom and living area (courtesy of Joe, who operates Sharpline Stainless Steel). “You can see quite a lot of steel detailing throughout the place,” says Simpson.

The rest of the ground floor—almost one third of the warehouse’s footprint—is taken up with Joe’s garage. With generous light and built-in joinery, it’s separated from the living areas by glass and steel doors. “The beauty of Andrew’s design is that you can still see through the entire space,” says Lynda, who refers to sky aspects as replacing the garden views left behind.

above The lobby/foyer is minimally furnished and has been earmarked as Lynda’s pottery studio right The open plan kitchen, dining and living areas lead to a generous west-facing deck that offers views of Melbourne’s skyline

“The beauty of Andrew’s design is that you can still see through the entire space”

LYNDA VELLA

The void, cutting a swathe through the warehouse, not only brings in sky views but also natural light to the core. a nd with operable highlight windows, air is continually moving throughout the spaces. Rather than segment the warehouse with fixed walls, Simpson designed a series of sliding doors/walls on the first level. These doors, concealing a bathroom and two bedrooms (including the main bedroom) allow the spaces to change function, as well as create a different ambience. “I love pulling back this door [to the main bedroom] and looking through the void. There’s just so many angles,” says Lynda, pointing out the myriad of shapes and planes in Simpson’s design.

High on the Vella’s wish list were fewer, but more generous spaces. So on the first floor is a spacious open plan living kitchen and dining area. The kitchen island bench, for example, extends to the terrace. designed on castors, this outdoor bench can be used as an extension of the kitchen bench when entertaining guests. “I prefer the place to be free of clutter so that we can enjoy the spaces,” says Lynda, who eventually wants to turn part of the ground floor space into a pottery studio.

The idea of ‘houses within a house’ is a repeated theme in the North Fitzroy warehouse. The ensuite to the main bedroom, for example, with its pitched-like ceiling, cantilevers into the central void. Likewise, the kitchen joinery, like the ceilings, is made from hoop pine plywood and limed, accentuating the steepled cross-section of a house. “We wanted to work with the existing roof form, making each house form fit into the entire scheme,” says Simpson. “But it’s really the one house, with their own spaces to inhabit,” he adds.

Share your thoughts on the Water Factory House project at indesignlive.com/waterfactoryhouse

above The building’s original tessellated brick façade was fortunately in A-grade condition prior to the renovation

WaTeR Fac ToRY HoUse

aRcHiTec T Andrew Simpson Architects

bU ilde R Overend Constructions

sTRUc TUR al engineeR BHS Consultants

bUdgeT $920, 000

Time To compleTe 3 years

ToTal FlooR aRea 462 m2

andReW simpson aRcHiTec Ts asimpson.com.au

FURniTURe

Dining Room: ‘Danish Johansen’ table, Great Dane Furniture. Eames Chairs, supplied by client. Lounge Room:

‘King Grey’ lounge sweet, King Furniture

Entertainment cabinet, Arja. Wooden stool, Mark Tuckey. Woven ottoman, Country Road Camberwell. ‘Danish Dux’ chair, supplied by client. Beds, Jardan

ligHTing

Theatre lights, studio photography light, supplied by client. Kitchen lights over bench, Sharpline

FinisHes

Ceilings: plasterboard, Boral. Plywood, Australply. Garage floor: ‘Liquorice Broom’ finish, Concrete Colour Systems. Tile throughout: Perini

For the full directory of supplier contacts, visit indesignlive.com/dissections62

Fixed & FiTTed

Laundry: ‘Miele’ washing machine, dryer, stacking kit, supplied by client. Kitchen: ‘Miele’ supplied by client. ‘Sirius’ rangehood, E&S Trading. ‘Miele’ hotplates, dishwasher, microwave oven supplied by client. ‘Fisher & Paykel’ refrigerator, Harvey Norman. Kitchenette: ‘Neff’ disherwasher, oven, cooktop, warming drawer, Samford IXL . ‘Qasair’ rangehood, E&S Trading Refrigerator, Samsung. Kitchen tap, bathroom wall hung pan and basin, ensuite basin, bath, bath mixer, towel rail, robe hook, wall mounted mixer, wall mounted tap, shower arm and rose, and toilet roll holder, Reece. Cabinet work, Leeda Development

Stephen Crafti is Indesign’s Melbourne Correspondent.

Legacy and Renewal with Cosentino

THE Cosentino Group has celebrated two milestones in June, with the relaunch of its Sydney City Centre and celebration of Silestone®’s 25 th anniversary.

The renovated facilities, located in the designcentric Sydney suburb of Alexandria, will serve as the local Silestone® and Dekton® selection hub and inspiration space.

Featuring a state-of-the-art LED sample experience designed to match colours to a range of kitchens and bathrooms, as well as a working kitchen and an openplan design, the new City Centre has been designed with aesthetics at the forefront, delivering a space that is functional, modern and reflective of Cosentino’s signature style.

The City Centre aims to promote a collaborative and creative environment for clients, customers and consumers to discuss ideas, products and designs in an open, relaxed space. The relaunch also reflects the group’s global expansion strategy, with the Sydney

City Centre marking the first innovation space for Cosentino globally.

Coinciding with the relaunch, Cosentino celebrated the 25 th anniversary of its first product, and worldwide leading quartz surface brand, Silestone ® . To mark the 25 th anniversary, Cosentino is extending its warranty on Silestone ® from 15 to 25 years on any work surfaces purchased from 2015.

Launching in 1990 with an initial range of six colours exclusively for Spain, Silestone ® is now available in over 60 colours, three textures, across 80 countries, spanning six continents and in a growing number of collections.

Since launching in Australia in 2011, Cosentino has expanded significantly, with increased operations in Sydney and new showroom and warehouse facilities in Melbourne and Queensland.

Cosentino’s City Centre Sydney is located at 69 O’Riordan Street, Alexandria.

For more inF ormation

please visit silestone.com/ oceania

s ales enquiries

02 8707 2500

opener The penetration of vegetation into the atrium softens the material palette, cooling and refresfhing dining and casual work areas previous Ground floor conference rooms break out to the naturally ventilated and naturally lit external atrium. Energy efficient fans provide gentle breezes to the space right The two buildings are linked by a tropical walkway featuring vertical and overhead plantings

Cairns and Tropical Far North Queensland can be unbearably hot during the summer months of the year. Surprisingly though, due to its location on Trinity Inlet and Smith’s Creek and the local sea breezes, it is far less humid than may be expected. It is these breezes that are just a few of the climatic and environmental factors that have been incorporated into William McCormack Place 2. This is the first building in a regional and tropical location in Australia to be awarded a 6-Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia, which represents world leadership in environmental/ sustainable design, and one of only a few projects in Australia to have achieved a total of three 6-Star ratings. The team’s local expertise in designing for the tropics was instrumental in achieving this award for hot and humid conditions.

William McCormack Place is an office precinct on the eastern edge of Cairn’s central business district. William McCormack Place 1 was completed in 2002 and William McCormack Place 2 (WMP2) followed and was completed in 2010. CA Architects and Cox Rayner Architects were engaged by the clients, Queensland Government Accommodation Office (QGAO), Department of Housing and Public Works to master plan and document the works, providing a full service that went from assisting the client with brief formulation through to construction.

The QGAO has very strict guidelines. Unusually for this project, the ‘whole of building’ solution was achieved through a series of collaborative design charrettes, with the client, engineers and architects. They formed a framework within which all the disciplines worked and continued on through the design and construction process.

CA architect, Gisela Jung, is a Green Star Accredited Professional. She says, “getting the planning right is the most important thing in sustainable design.” The urban context of Cairns was the inspiration for the environmental aspects of the project, the building form, materials, spatial relationships and streetscape setbacks.

“getting the planning right is the most important thing in sustainable design”

GISel A J UNG

On the formerly disused and exposed brown-field site, the team developed a linear and rectangular form set on a roughly east-west axis. This relationship works to minimise direct sunlight onto the main façades and the need for sun shading, which are particularly important in the tropics. For example, the western elevation has barely any windows—by putting the external stairs at the western ends, solar penetration is minimised, as is the need for stairwell pressurisation. The building has its offices and service areas at the core so that the open plan zone can be on the outside near the façades with maximum exposure to light. Its orientation and façade treatment also work to take advantage of the local breezes.

The open plan solution, Jung says, is, “the way of the future in the case of sustainability requirements.” This is an innovative approach to the planning of government office space. They also “kept ceilings as high as possible for ventilation and have left bulkheads exposed,” says Jung. Reducing the need for air-conditioned spaces delivers substantial energy savings, as air conditioning is the biggest energy consumer in such buildings. Installing low speed fans, another unusual move, has further reduced the energy output needed to lower temperature.

For similar reasons, the sheltered, landscaped external space of the foyer was orientated to catch the local coastal breezes. The café and foyer is designed to encourage people to have their meetings and lunches there, and shared meeting rooms are also located at ground level so as to reduce the air-conditioned building footprint.

These are just a few key ways that the architects’ intelligent designing have created substantial energy

savings for their client—there are numerous other sustainability design initiatives integrated into the building, and it is estimated that these will save approximately $450,000 per year on utility costs and maintenance. In comparison with normal office buildings’ energy output, it is predicted that there will be a reduction in the order of 60 per cent energy/ emissions, and 40 per cent reduction in demand on the local energy grid. There will also be less demand on water and other utilities and services.

Not only is WMP2 a highly efficient and intelligent example of tropical sustainable design, it is also a very elegant design solution for the tropical far north. The architects have incorporated subtle vernacular references and indigenous planting in the courtyards that echo rain forest planting.

below The double height atrium provides a welcoming and sustainable main entrance, and significantly reduces the air conditioning and energy requirements for the building opposite above The first floor lift lobby is open to and overlooks the ground floor gardens opposite below External view of William McCormack Place 2

Tempe Macgowan is a landscape architect and writer.

geca – the imP ortance of fresh air

Good EnvironmEntal ChoiCE australia on how to avoid indoor air pollution

t he great outdoors shouldn’t be the only place people can find fresh air. i n the workplace, indoor air quality plays a huge part in maintaining employee comfort and boosting productivity levels, so it’s important to get it right. studies have demonstrated an increase in employee productivity after taking measures to improve indoor air quality in workplace environments, with a reduction in the frequency of headaches, colds, fatigue and poor concentration.

poor indoor air quality can be caused by any number of factors. i nadequate ventilation, chemical contaminants from both indoor and outdoor sources, and biological contaminants are the key factors behind ‘sick building syndrome’. occupants affected by a ‘sick building’ often report a range of common ailments that are relieved once they leave the building.

t he majority of indoor air pollution comes from interior sources, and can include pollutants from adhesives, upholstered furniture, flooring, paints

and cleaning products. Each of these can emit volatile organic compounds ( voCs) such as formaldehyde, which can trigger allergies, asthma, and other symptoms as they vaporise into the surrounding air. a nd despite the wonderfully fresh smell of new carpets and recently-applied paint, brand new building spaces can often be a cause of sick building syndrome.

i mproving the indoor air quality can be as simple as changing the products used by cleaning staff or a fresh coat of paint using low or no voC alternatives. o ther easy solutions include placing some indoor plants in the workspace to help filter the air, or choosing more eco-friendly furniture and fittings. t he easiest way to find out if manufacturers are making accurate claims about whether their products are better for the environment and safer for human health is to look for evidence of independent third-party certification, such as the Good Environmental Choice australia (GEC a) ecolabel.

Excellent Value

ENGAGED to design a contemporary workplace in a high-end CBD commercial building, Office Spectrum and SUMU Design have worked wonders on a tight budget, creating a flexible, resolved space.

The design team has been able to leverage its extensive experience in the field, strong industry contacts and expertise in upcycling furniture to shave costs without compromising on quality. They have created a fully flexible space replete with open-plan workstation area, acoustically insulated private work booths, breakout/dining and meeting areas, the small envelope comprehensively caters to a modern company’s needs. Highly effective, costefficient strategies like reusing Caeserstone kitchen bench tops, sourcing overstock Bolon flooring, and specifying re-upholstered Vitra chairs have yielded substantial savings, and permitted more luxurious touches such as Maruni chairs, molo design LED softcloud pendant light, and designer kitchen furniture.

A particularly intelligent design response was to deploy custom sliding timber doors, which can be closed to isolate meeting areas or left open to create a continuous space. The use of scrap Ecopanel material from the Office Spectrum factory to produce colourful, unique pin boards also speaks to the lateral thinking and aesthetic sensibility of the designers.

From a property owner’s point of view, the design team’s ability to provide a fully fitted-out interior solution eliminated the need to offer tenants cash incentives, and, by not fixing many of the finishes and furnishings to the base building (even the Interface carpet tiles have been installed without glue) the ‘make-good’ costs at the end of a tenancy have been substantially reduced.

Offices like this one lend themselves to ABW or flexible work envirnonments. These robust, functional workspaces, without excessive costs or rhetoric, are becoming increasingly in demand among both property owners and tenants, and firms like Office Spectrum are expertly placed to deliver fast, effective solutions to the market.

Frei Otto never went out of his way to be fashionable. His ideas were firmly established well before Post-modernism repudiated Modernism. Otto was not impressionable, certainly not in order to follow voguish architectural styles.

Frei Otto represents a very different and distinct strain of design best summed up in a phrase which he coined to describe his method—“Form Finding”. Otto developed a range of tools or procedures to generate forms automatically. He did not so much design as discover new forms. Ralph Emerson might have said that Otto interrogated nature; that he allowed nature to speak.

Frei Otto was born in Siegmar, Saxony, on 31 May 1925. His father and grandfather were both sculptors, and though his approach may have been radically different, he was always a sculptor in his own special way. Otto was 18 when war broke out. Like many young men military service was inevitable; trained in gliders, he became a fighter pilot with the Luftwaffe and flew the Me 109, and towards its close, the explosive Me 163B

Komet rocket-powered interceptor, the first such aircraft and precursor to NASA’s space shuttle.

At the end of the war Otto was a prisoner of war in France employed in rebuilding damaged infrastructure. Materials and money were in short supply and this forced him to find ways to use the least material and labour to greatest effect. The lesson would become the philosophy permeating his famous Institut fur Leichte Flächtragwerke (IL), or institute for light surface structures at Vaihingen outside Stuttgart in 1964.

Otto’s approach was radical for the time: as natural selection ensures only the fittest survive, Otto looked to the most enduring structures for inspiration. He began with tents, the flimsiest, most transient of all building types, long connected with nomads and with princes and armies. Tents are unique; temporary, they are readily transported and can be rapidly erected as needed. Otto updated the tent, made it modern, and gave it a new shape. He was fond of saying: “Look at the tent; it is as old as the pyramids!” It was true—Egyptian pharaohs are depicted with luxurious tents that had gilded poles encrusted with precious jewels.

The tent was also key to his concept of sustainable building because it was a stretched structure in tension: lightweight, efficient, and easily repaired.

Later, Otto went on to investigate the inverse: thin shells in compression. He simplified the choice of structures to those that were either in pure tension or pure compression; in turn, this involved devising ways of finding the most efficient, minimal shapes as dictated by the line of force. The outcome, invariably, were outrageously beautiful sculptures.

Otto’s early tents were constructed for German garden exhibitions. The first, in Cologne in 1957, was a red peaked pavilion complementing the

FREI OTTO, who died a few months before receiving the 2015 Pritzker Prize for Architecture, evolved a radical structural approach based on efficiency and natural forms.

‘In like manner, nature is already in its forms and tendencies, describing its own design. Let us interrogate the great apparition, that shines so peacefully around us. Let us inquire, to what end is nature?’

Ralph Waldo Emerson, From Nature, 1836

P revious The Goethe Institute-sponsored Prater exhibition in Hyde Park, Sydney, January 1980. Designed by the author.

Photo: John Seymour left A mesh raised by two hinged aluminium scissor masts and suspended from boundary cable loops, distributing the tension in the heavy fishing net. Photo: IL Archiv below A fabric structural model being studied on the measuring table at the Institute of Light Surface Structures IL, at Vaihingen outside Stuttgart. Photo: IL Archiv

words PHiliP drew PHotograPHy various

previous above The great West Stadium roof, 20 th Olympic Games in Munich. German television insisted on a shadow free roof for colour broadcasting which led to the adoption of transparent Plexiglass panels. Photo: IL Archiv previous below left Reversed image of suspended gold chain net used to find the shape for complex grid shell structures loaded in pure compression.

previous below right

Image of a radiolarian shell under an electron microscope. Structural efficiency and beauty coincide.

Photo: IL Archiv

Photo: Research Group for Microbiology, Berlin. right Frei Otto. Photo: IL Archiv

“[Otto] did not so much design as find or discover forms.”

PhiliP Drew

spires of the city’s famous cathedral, a provocative double dome resembling a large brassiere, the ‘Tansbrunnen’, undulating dance pavilion, and an entrance supported by a thin arch. This triumph was followed at Hamburg in 1963, and importantly, Lausanne, a year later, where, working at a considerably larger scale, he introduced steel cable networks to reinforce the fabric.

The national pavilion at Lausanne would become the basis for the German Pavilion at Montreal in 1967. In the meantime, Larry Medlin, a young American working with soap film models, discovered how to redistribute tensile membrane forces at supports by introducing eye shaped cable loops. Such eye cables could be used for low ground anchorages. It represented a significant breakthrough for the Montreal pavilion.

Montreal was a turning point for Otto. Germany laboured under the weight of its Nazi past, of a NeoClassical monumentality favoured by Hitler and Albert Speer. The 1936 Berlin Olympic stadium epitomised this style, which is forever associated with Hitler. Montreal introduced a new image for Germany, an image which, with its lightness, transparency, freedom and new openness to the world, was the very antithesis of the Nazi architecture of the Third Reich.

Back then, Otto’s concern for sustainability was evident. At Montreal the ground inside the pavilion sloped inwards from the edges so that when the fabric wall was withdrawn at night, cold air migrated inside and was trapped during the day, thereby eliminating the need for air conditioning.

At Frei’s suggestion, a test structure which had been previously erected in Germany was dismantled and reerected to house Otto’s IL institute at Vaihingen.

When the first prize design by Behnisch & Partners for the 20th Olympic Games in Munich was revealed, its resemblance to Otto’s Montreal was unmistakable. The roof of the German Pavilion traced the outline of a united Germany; in a similar vein, Behnisch’s scheme united site topography with the shapes of the stadium roofs, going so far as to echo the Alps which were visible in the distance.

Such was the similarity, that when the result was announced, a passing friend saw Otto seated in a restaurant and rushed inside to offer congratulations. The confusion was understandable; the Behnisch design was almost indistinguishable from Montreal. After endless debates the Behnisch design was approved in 1968, two years later, and Otto was invited to act as roof consultant and his IL institute engaged to develop the roof shapes.

Besides tents, Otto’s other interest was in what he termed, ‘grid shells’. These were deformed timber lattices of exceptional thinness that were lifted from the flat on the ground to their final shape and frozen by the simple expedient of locking the lattice intersections. Among the many examples, the large Mannheim Multi-hall in 1974, with Ove Arup (Edmund Happold) and Rolf Gutbrod, was Otto’s largest and most daring demonstration of grid lattice economy in spanning.

The Otto institute at Vaihingen was a gathering point for young designers and researchers such as Shigeru Ban, who were interested in exploring new concepts. They came from around the world, inspired by Otto’s charismatic personality and vision of architecture harnessing the lessons of biological efficacy. His many contributions live on via their activities in such recent projects as the Christchurch prefab cardboard cathedral, July 2013.

Frei Otto visited Australia in 1979. I was invited to design the exhibition pavilion, built according to his principles, which was shown in Hyde Park, Newcastle, Melbourne and Perth, before going on to Manila. To create the mesh, Sicilian immigrants at Sydney’s Fish Market at Black Wattle handmade the heavy net, which was raised on aluminium poles by yacht fabricators. Frei’s lecture at the Opera House was a huge occasion.

Frei in German means ‘free’. It is hardly an exaggeration to say Otto released 20th Century architecture from its addiction to heavy monumental construction. Otto belongs in the company of such structural greats as Fuller, Torroja, Candela, and Nervi, all of whom were instrumental in some way in liberating architecture from gravity.

Philip Drew is the author of Frei Otto: Form and Structure, Tensile Architecture , and New Tent Architecture

Frei otto

WHo Frei Otto

Born Siegmar, Germany

lived Berlin, Stutgart

WorKed Private practice, Development

Centre for Lightweight Construction

education Trained as a stone mason during school holidays, studied Architecture at the Technische Universitat, Berlin

bouroullec.com

Sitting within the Kettal stand at the 2015 Salone del Mobile, Ronan Bouroullec is soft-spoken, and chooses his words carefully. When asked about the brothers’ recent collaboration with the Spanish outdoor furniture brand, he explains,“Kettal wanted to work with us since years and years and years”, but the Bouroullecs’ approach has always been to avoid working with too many companies at the same time. However Kettal’s perseverance paid off. “at the same time, when there are people that ask you and ask you and ask you, you feel that there is probably something interesting … so we said ‘why not try?’ ”

The concept of the ensuing ‘Stampa’ chair was born of the two Frenchmen’s dissatisfaction with outdoor furniture, which, as Ronan says, “Gets dirty very quickly and is in plastic—the quality, I think, is extremely poor.” The Bouroullecs’ taste instead harks back to the days of metal garden chairs, the kind one finds second-, third- and fourth-hand at markets across the world. “For me the idea was to find [Stampa] in a flea market in 20 years and be happy” says Ronan, who describes it as “a comfortable chair, long-lasting; it has a lot of charm but at the same time it’s not just a wow effect, it’s calm and refined.”

The collaboration was a process of discovery for both the Bouroullecs and Kettal; “For [Kettal] it is quite an ad-

vanced object in terms of technology,” explains Ronan. “I was extremely pessimistic in general, I said to my assistant who was working with me on this that it would not succeed, that we did an error to try to do this with [Kettal] because it’s too complicated and it’s not the culture of the company. But I was totally wrong,” he concedes. However the sophisticated manufacturing process, which includes metal-punching, dyecasting and hydro-forming techniques, is not immediately apparent. “From the legs to each detail, [the chair] is quite advanced in terms of technology, but you don’t feel that it’s so heavy technologically—it seems simple.”

The result, apart from a beautiful and unique outdoor chair, is a new relationship. “I consider working with a company like a love affair—of course you can have a very quick love affair— but I like to get to know the people; it’s really a question of feeling, to understand how to work with them. So I was extremely happy with this first experience, there’s no reason to stop,” concludes Ronan.

Lorenzo Logi is Managing Editor of Indesign .

One half of the French creative brotherhood, ROnan BOuROullec, talks about selectivity in collaboration, disguising high tech, and hoping to find his products in flea markets of the future.

ronan Bouroullec

who Ronan Bouroullec Born Quimper, Brittany lives Paris

worKs Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec Design education Studied at l’École des Arts Décoratifs

a B ove Stampa chair by Bouroullec brothers for Kettal. Photo: courtesy of Kettal left EFT Ronan Bouroullec. Photo: Morgane Le Gall

Memocorp. George St, Sydney LED fitting in floor-wall interface

Hotbeam LED Linear Xoolum Hydra HD6 IP67

Photography: Andrew Worssam

Scholten & BaijingS

Who Stefan Scholten & Carole Baijings

BoRn Stefan: Amsterdam, Carole: Jakarta

liVe Amsterdam

WoRKS Scholten & Baijings

education Stefan: Design Academy

Eindhoven, Carole: self taught scholtenbaijings.com

The Dutch Muji of design, ScholTen & BaijingS are a breath of fresh air for the design industry. They produce universally appealing products that are the result of radical and rigorous experimentation.

While the rest of us ration our days into meetings, work and digital communication, hoarding our spare moments like rare jewels, Carole Baijings and Stefan Scholten remain resistant to the rush. They have time to give.

Experimentation, discovery, design and process – these are the tools around which their studio, Scholten & Baijings, has built its name. Industrial designers by trade, from early on they adopted an atelier mode of working, producing their own models, materials and colours from their Amsterdam-based studio. Their office is a “veritable candy shop for the curious eye”1; a kaleidoscope of fascination that reveals the true depth of their inventive and investigative spirit.

“It makes a difference [working this way],” says Carole. “We like to feel what we design, and in the model you can really see if the product feels right.”

Designing by computer doesn’t allow the same intimacy of process—or as Scholten & Baijings refer to it, “thinking through making”. While experimentation might underpin their practice, there is a rigour and perfectionism present in everything they produce.

Scholten & Baijings are known for their trademark layered aesthetic and their signature colour palettes which play with transparency and gridding. Yet their ability to apply this time and

time again to functional products that carry a “pleasantly universal and useful character” has earned them the nickname of ‘Dutch Muji’ – this from Michael Maharam in Reproducing Scholten & Baijings (Phaidon, 2015).

From a manufacturer’s point of view, Scholten & Baijings are the proverbial breath of fresh air. They like to embed themselves in a company’s production process, weeding out the “qualities they may think are normal but we can use in a different way”, says Carole. For Japanese wood workers Karimoku New Standard, Scholten & Baijings took the brand’s standard approach to lacquering (in which numerous protective layers create an almost plastic sheen on the timber’s surface), and turned it on its head. “Japanese customers in general like to protect their furniture well in daily use,” says Carole. So the studio evolved the lacquering process to produce COLOUR WOOD, a range that applies a delicate ‘tablecloth’ of gridded patterns and transparent colours that accentuate the timber’s unique grain, before applying a special lacquer that seals the wood without loosing its natural beauty.

For Maharam this year, Scholten & Baijings designed Blocks & Grids, a unique textile that is produced on a nine metre repeat. Maharam had invited the studio to generate a ‘new vision’ for colour blocking. An intense period of experimentation followed, in which Scholten & Baijings played with densities in gridded patterns, producing an almost glowing, textural layering of colours where “red might feel like red, but it also starts to feel like orange too”.

Pushing the process one step further, the studio investigated the length needed to upholster a three-seater sofa without a single repeat in the print. The answer was nine metres – a textile that

words Alice BlAcKwood photogrAphy vArious

offers consumers a very personalised approach to their furniture products. “Every cut and upholstery will be different,” says Carole. “Because we think consumers today are looking for a unique experience in their products, and that’s what we can do with this mass produced textile.”

While many of us would list being time-poor as one of our biggest worklife challenges, Scholten & Baijings’ greatest battle revolves around choices and options—“we have too many!” exclaims Carole. “Because we make our own materials and models, we find it hard to choose between new designs and colourways. If our challenge would be anything, it would be to narrow down our collections to just two or three pieces,” says Carole. “Yet our audience is wide, so this way they can choose their own part of the collection—the bit that best fits with them.”

1 Michael Maharam on Scholten & Baijings, pg. 19, Reproducing Scholten & Baijings (Phaidon, 2015)

Alice Blackwood is Melbourne Editor of Indesign.

previous ABove Blocks & Grids textile collection designed by Scholten & Baijings for Maharam, featured in the Herman Miller showroom in Milan at Salone del Mobile 2015 previous Below Stefan and Carole, Photo: Inga Powilleit

ABove left Ottoman by Scholten & Baijings for Moroso, featuring Maharam Blocks & Grids textile, designed by Scholten & Baijings for Maharam, Photo: Alessandro Paderni A B ove COLOUR WOOD collection by Scholten & Baijings for Karimoku New Standard

The Future of Workspaces

ERGOZONES –The future of workspaces

Welcome to Ergozones.com, a new information portal for office ergonomics best practise and innovative products. At Ergozones, we aim to provide everyone, from the single home office worker to fortune 500 companies with creative office seating solutions.

We believe that everyone deserves a good work space, and as we spend most of our working days sitting, the best place to start is a good comfortable chair. As humans are not originally evolved to be seated for very long hours, many of us feel the negative effects of the modern office environment. Sitting for long periods at a desk can cause stress on the lower back, neck, shoulders and other MSP related illnesses, plus poor blood circulation and a host of other physical impacts.

The good news is that more and more companies have already discovered that by investing in good ergonomic furniture they are directly investing in their staff and their well-being. This leads to less sick-days, reduced staff turnover and an overall higher company productivity. Many Scandinavian companies are excellent examples of this.

We really mean it when we say - Changing the way you sit can improve your overall perfomance at work and even benefit your everyday life. We are so confident in our products and that you will have a great experience that we would like to invite you to visit our newest Ergozones physical store to try before you buy the products.

Visit us for more information about how sitting badly could literally be killing you, the alternative, dynamic workstyle and how modern office ergonomics can play a vital role in your health and productivity at work.

www.ergozones.com

Equatorial Asia and much of north-eastern Australia are a paradise for tropical and subtropical plants. Yet few major gardens in these regions reflect the lush possibilities of contemporary design conveyed through massed plantings of exotic trees and shrubs. The wonderful gardens of Brazilian artist and landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx are truly successful examples of this genre, and provide an inspired template for such undertakings.

When, in the 1930s, the famous French architect Le Corbusier came to the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro to advise on the new Ministry of Education and Health building, the country was clearly receptive to the most advanced ideas of modern architecture and design. South America was the one continent that remained largely uninvolved in World War II. In 1946, when nearly everywhere else in the world was in post-war recovery mode, influential citizens in Brazil began commissioning important modern buildings and landscapes. A prime example is the residence and garden in Rio—now a museum—for banker and ambassador Walter Moreira Salles by Burle Marx and architect Olavo Redig de Campos.

Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) is a pivotal figure in the evolution of modern landscape design. Born in

words HowArd TAnner pHoTogrApHy vArious

Sao Paulo and raised in Rio, at 18 he travelled to Germany where he studied art, and in visits to the hot-houses of the Berlin-Dahlem Botanic Gardens was stunned to discover the amazing flora of Brazil, at that time little used in the gardens at home. Subsequently he attended the National School of Fine Arts in Rio, where he became acquainted with the leading progressive architects, and began to design gardens. Over time, with leading plantsmen and the celebrated botanical artist Margaret Mee, he explored the Amazon basin and other wild regions of Brazil, bringing back to Rio magnificent plant specimens for propagation.

To this end, in 1949 Burle Marx purchased the Sitio (meaning small farm) on the outskirts of Rio, to be his home and garden, as well as a plant nursery. The buildings and the extensive grounds evolved over the ensuing 45 years, and the nursery became enormous, supplying most of his projects with specialist plants, including a huge range of philodendrons, bromeliads and anthuriums. Today the Sitio is managed by the Brazilian government as an exemplar of Burle Marx’s work and a botanical resource. It contains examples of many of the world’s finest tropical plants, all placed with an artist’s eye for visual effect, and with massed groundcovers and plantings giving sweeps of colour and texture so characteristic of Burle Marx’s work. The cobbled drive to the house is flanked by leopard trees (caesalpinia ferrea), with mottled trunks and arching branches, and lower plantings of variegated grasses, aloes and agaves. One comes upon an old chapel and then the veranda’d farm house. It overlooks a broad grassy terrace concluding in a formal pond and cascade, the latter emerging from an almost Mayan wall composed of giant stone blocks rescued

The bold, bright architectural gardens and landscapes of South America suggest vibrant possibilities closer to home.

previous Roberto Burle Marx’s skills as a designer, an artist and as a maker of landscapes come together in this loggia adjoining his home at the Sitio, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Its verdant chandeliers and garden vistas create a special locale for sheltered outdoor living.

Photo: Michael Moran

Above The vast shade houses at the Sitio continue to propagate the exotic plant species of the Amazon basin, and other tropical regions of the world. Distinctive leaf colours, shapes and textures are found extensively in Burle Marx’s work. Photo: Leonardo Finotti

from demolished city buildings. A billowing mass of a large pink/mauve velvet congea softens the composition. At an extremity of the garden are sinuous ponds cleft into a bouldered hillside adorned with clumped philodendrons and fan palms.

Amongst Burle Marx’s most famous works are: the Gomes garden (1951), which has a lushly planted pond, edged with towering trees; the Cavanelas garden (1954), known as Tacaruna, with its catenary-roofed house set in a valley, and looking out across chequer-board lawns to crested mountains, or over patterned ground covers to a lake; the Fazenda Vargem Grande (1984, 1987-9) where a sequence of geometric stone terraces are linked by cascades and ponds; and of course, the rhythmic mosaic pavements of Copacabana Beach (1970) shaded by groups of Indian almond trees (terminalia

catappa), whose leaves turn crimson in mid-summer.

In many of Burle Marx’s works his commitment to abstract art is apparent, clearly evident in the coloured, flowing geometric planted patterns laid across the ground, often allied with artfully shaped pools and cascades, and complemented by his tiled murals in pale blues and whites. As his fame spread, he was invited to design the major landscapes of Brasilia, and parks and gardens in Venezuela, the USA and Malaysia. Given the tropical and subtropical nature of much of eastern and northern Australia, and South East Asia, his influence deserves to be greater. Sydney-based Myles Baldwin’s occasional use of complex tropical foliage, John Sullivan’s plantings in North Queensland and several new Singapore gardens show an appreciation of such possibilities. Perhaps Burle Marx’s painterly skills, and a requirement for intensive maintenance has limited such expression to date, but certainly new landscape gardens in the relevant regions deserve to reflect this rich modernist heritage.

Howard Tanner is a Sydney architect with a long-standing involvement in landscape design and history.

previous above At Fazenda Vargem Grande in the Brazilian hinterland a pattern of rectangular terraces and stone-lined pools linked by cascades provides a sense of calm formality amongst rolling landscapes. Pink water cannas and Indian lotus edge the pools; floating on their surface are the cupped circular leaves of the giant Amazon water lily Victoria regis. Photo: Michael Moran previous below The framed outlook from the Oscar Niemeyer-designed house at the Cavenelas Garden near Petropolis is over a checkerboard lawn of green and silver grasses, with introduced trees and regained forest emphasizing the vista along the valley to impressive folded mountains.

Photo: Leonardo Finotti left The Olivo Gomes residence extends out onto a generous deck overlooking a Burle Marx garden created in 1950 and 1965. A large pond, with raised ‘water platforms’ is set with giant arum lillies, lotus and giant water lillies.

Moran left below Copacabana Beach—the most famous in Brazil—stretches along an immense curved bay bordered by a wide motorway, and overlooked by fashionable hotels and apartments. Burle Marx created the tree-lined esplanade and the wide footpaths paved in Portuguese-style stone mosaics set in flowing, abstract patterns.

Photo: Michael

Photo: Leonardo Finotti

Zenith Lands in Asia

BUILDING on decades of accomplishment in Australia and New Zealand, Zenith have bolstered their Asian presence with a new showroom in central Hong Kong. The expansion is a logical one; as company Director Barbara Schmidt points out, “Many of our clients have offices in Asia and there are so many Australian architects and designers working in these regions. We need to be there to support them.”

The showroom, located in the city’s Central district, is ideally situated close to major offices of clients and industry leaders, and boasts a magnificent view of the harbor. Zenith has a full range of world class flexible furniture solutions to enhance collaboration and concentration in the workplace, and the collection on display showcases Zenith workstations and Schamburg + Alvisse products plus the company’s core international partners; Formway, Allermuir, Buzzispace, Enea, Aichi, Sean Dix and Sancal. Zenith are also using the space to promote Australian designers, including Yellow Diva, Tom Skeehan, Tom Fereday and Keith Melbourne.

Beyond reflecting the importance of the Asian market for Australian companies, Zenith’s Hong Kong expansion attests to the company’s unique philosophy and management model. Born in the 1950s, Zenith has steadily refined its approach and grown across

Australia and New Zealand, with four manufacturing facilities and showrooms across every major city in the two countries. A commitment to both distributing the best in international design and fostering local talent and craftsmanship saw Zenith launch Zenith Design in 2009 to lead their own design and manufacturing direction, and open a state of the art powder coating facility and a CNC machine worktop plant at their Melbourne factory in 2013-2014. As a result, Zenith not only produces a world-class collection of proprietary products, but also is in an excellent position to offer bespoke solutions. As Schmidt comments, “Being a local manufacturer in this Asia Pacific region and being able to offer fully resolved solutions with a customized edge is a huge point of difference for Zenith.”

Ultimately however, it is Zenith’s understanding of the needs of the contemporary workplace that make it an invaluable asset for its clients; “We want the workplace to be more welcoming and acoustically balanced. The workplace needs to inspire and attract people to work at the office instead of the coffee shop,” explains Schmidt. She adds, “The style and feel and size of the workstations have changed. And now our loose furniture collection is playing a huge role in our overall offer for collaboration, break out and quiet areas in the workplace.”

For more inF ormation please visit zenithinteriors.com s ales enquiries 1300013013

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ASTRA WALKER ARCHITECTURAL BATHWARE

It wasn’t too long ago that innovation in workplace design was seemingly measured by whether or not there was a slide in the middle of the office. Google popularised the fun work environment with the fit-out of their Californian headquarters in 2005 and soon designers everywhere were looking to employ solutions better suited to a playground. Today’s workplace design has moved beyond mere gimmickry, although it still maintains a certain level of informality in both concept and plan. Factors contributing to this shift can be attributed to the increasingly humancentric approach adopted by designers when creating new office spaces.

While foosball tables are no longer the answer, promoting health and wellbeing in the workplace will never go out of fashion. It remains a priority consideration for employers because this affects their bottom line. Happy employees, after all, are more likely to perform at a higher rate of productivity and efficiency than unhappy ones. So a discussion on how to achieve positive behavioural outcomes is pertinent, with light recently being thrown on the subject by

Keti Malkoski and dr

Jacqueline C Vischer in their new publication The Power of Workplace for People & Business

words leAnne Amodeo photogrAphy

Below The custom-made furniture for Airbnb’s Portland, Oregon, office was designed and manufactured by The Good Mod in collaboration with Airbnb.

vArious

Many buzzwords of workplace design have been abused. However, promoting interaction, choice and community remain key drivers in creating better offices.

Photo: Arthur Hitchcock

In it the co-authors outline the importance of psychology in workplace strategy, with an aim to acheiving these outcomes. Their findings reveal how important understanding the human condition is in determining all aspects of business, including the workplace’s design. As organisational psychologist and Schiavello’s Principal—Design and Culture, Melbourne-based Malkoski explains, “People react differently to the environments in which they work because each person is different. We have diversity in needs and it’s about understanding the need to have diversity in the office space in order to support those needs.” It simply means today’s workplace must be flexible in order to provide employees and employers with choice and control over their work environment.

This user-focused approach is reiterated in international design giant Gensler’s Design Forecast 2014, in which choice is highlighted as a key factor expected to influence workplace design between now and 2025. An ABW (activity-based workplace) needs to be adopted in order to support a ‘let the user decide’ environment where agility rules and flexibility is realised through a series of different settings that facilitate different ways of working.

Part-time employees as well as a new generation of twenty-something workers, who don’t necessarily want to sit at the same desk for eight hours a day, day in day out, are both accommodated as a result.

Office furniture also enables such flexibility and Schiavello’s Krossi sit-stand workstation is a recently launched example that not only meets the needs of the new workforce, but also directly contributes to the health and wellbeing of employees through encouraging mobility. The Good Mod’s custom-made furniture for Airbnb’s Portland, Oregon, office, on the other hand, demonstrates a specific design solution for a particular agile ‘laptop centric’ work environment.

While the ABW is designed to support collaboration, this focus on teamwork in the office environment is slowly being superseded by a renewed emphasis on balance in the workplace. According to Malkoski, “We need to promote collaboration, but we can’t work in busy, buzzing collaborative environments all the time; we also need to reflect, relax and rejuvenate. Having the opportunity to retreat and take time out to quieten our minds is important.” This shift is being felt across the industry, with leaders in workplace design predicting its significant impact on future projects.

Geyer is one practice already responding to this need for balance and their recent JWT Sydney office fit out reflects this consideration on a relatively small scale. However, their design for the newly completed Westpac Melbourne Headquarters is a much more sophisticated ABW program that employs a deliberate workplace strategy across multiple levels. “Every single setting in the space has a behaviour attributed to it,” says Sydney-based Geyer Partner Simone Oliver. “So there are tables and open work stations that allow for team

interaction, however, there are also little niches that enable deep thinking, which has to occur for many individuals to do their best and be their best.”

But the design’s most successful outcome is what both the Gensler report and Malkoski and Visher identify as necessary in defining a progressive and innovative workplace. By creating a sense of community everyone is made to feel like they belong, which results in spatial attachment—a good thing, because it means they care. Generating emotional investment and ownership is crucial for maintaining a work culture of unity and engagement, resulting in improved performance. In Geyer’s Westpac Melbourne Headquarters, for example, the sense of community is promoted through hubs on each level, while interaction with the wider community is also encouraged through a central stair visible from the street, which not only promotes mobility, but also connects employees to the city.

This consideration of global connectivity and social purpose continues to grow in relevance because of the digital age in which we live. Technology is a great enabler in current workplace design and alongside key factors that take the human condition to heart; it serves to further empower those who work in these office spaces. But it is perhaps Oliver who best sums up the designer’s role in it all, “It’s just about creating environments that counter all the pressures associated with the workplace and supporting people to realise their potential.”

Share your thoughts on designing workplaces at indesignlive.com/ designingworklplaces

Leanne Amodeo is an Adelaide-based writer on architecture and design.

right Seating in Westpac’s Geyer-designed Melbourne Headquarters is 100 per cent non-designated and comfortably accommodates both collaborative and individual work practices.

Photo: Shannon McGrath below A diversity of work settings characterises the JWT Sydney office (also designed by Geyer) in order to provide employees with choice.

Photo: Luc Remond

Paramount Workplace

PARAMOUNT by The Office Space represents a bold new concept in office real estate.

Paramount is a shared office space that exists for distinctive businesses seeking a truly sophisticated working environment.

Set within the walls of a heritage-listed icon and against the creative panorama of Surry Hills, Paramount by The Office Space exists to enhance your 9-5 work life. Paramount is a place where business is both pleasurable and distinctive. Modern and effortless luxury prevails, the sum of exquisite details, bolstered by sight, sound and feel.

Award winning architectural firm Woods Bagot has instructed the transformation of the Upper Ground Level of Paramount House, creating a thoughtful environment for working and business interactions. The design highlights the original Art Deco elements in a reinterpretation that acknowledges the rich heritage and heralds a new function for the space.

Celebrated mid-century design pieces from Walter Knoll are complimented by Bassam Fellows’ handcrafted contemporary modernist furniture and pieces from AB Projects’ inaugural collection. Details like Marc Newson for Noritake glassware and floral arrangements by Hermetica provide stylish touches. A considered selection of Australian and International artworks are curated throughout the common spaces and offices, including works from Ben Quilty, Corita Kent and Del Kathryn Barton.

Now Leasing - arrange a viewing today.

One last thing

design Bjarke ingels group with heatherwick studio project google north Bayshore contact google.com

Working together with Google, Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick have conceived a new vision for Google’s Mountain View headquarters in California. More than just a workplace, the true ‘Googliness’ of the company’s HQ is encapsulated by its vision for a neighbourhood that embeds itself within the site’s surrounding natural environment and local community. Underpinning the design vision is a “desire is to create pieces of environment you can work in, in multiple ways,” says Heatherwick. These environments are flexible in their interpretation, blending life, work and nature through physically transparent structures. Expanding on this concept, Ingels says: “Instead of buildings as boxes with walls and floors, [we] dissolve the buildings into a simple, supertransparent ultra-light membrane.” So the architecture of the buildings becomes almost like “giant pieces of furniture that can be connected in different ways,” he says. The ultimate purpose is to blur traditional distinctions between living and working, and give that sense of diversity and liveliness that you might find in your local urban neighbourhood. In a way what Google, Ingels and Heatherwick are looking to do is harness Google’s immaterial genius (the resources and intelligence that have shaped our digital universe), and distil this into a material reality.

text alice blackwood image courtesy of google