Table of contents for INDESIGN #76 - Workplace in INDESIGN

And so the waiting game begins! As I write, the INDE.Awards 2019 Jury is sitting down to review the many hundreds of entries we’ve received in this year’s Indo-Pacific-wide awards program. More than any other awards program in this country, the INDE.Awards calls on architects and designers to think big, and look beyond the scope of your immediate locality to have your voice heard, and your work recognised, within a larger regional context. Speaking recently with Mat Hinds of Taylor and Hinds Architects, (2018 winner of The Building, and Best of the Best for ‘krakani-lumi’ in Tasmania) he reminded me of the immense reach of our region, and the INDEs’ unique capability to span its many continents and bring unity to a diverse industry of creatives. “As a small practice,…

INDESIGN Luminary He is 47 years of age and with his track record of exhibitions, prizes and outstanding furniture (and now lighting) products, others might be tempted to take their foot off the accelerator and settle back to enjoy the high profile. But Jon Goulder is driven by the sense of continuing evolution and acquisition of knowledge. He loves the challenge. “Furniture,” says Goulder, “is a great challenge in terms of weight, scale, structure, materials, longevity and originality. I think it has a lot to do with being a fourth generation furniture maker. I didn’t set out to be a designer. I was just a country lad from Bowral, [NSW], I didn’t actually understand what it all meant. But it became my career. It’s a never-ending evolution, a progression of…

“We want to create places and spaces that we would personally like to inhabit.” London-based Turkish designer Sevil Peach is discussing the strategy behind her workplace-oriented studio, which she established with architect Gary Turnbull in 1994. It’s an approach borne of experience. Typified by many a fledgling practice, the pair began by working from home. Despite its challenges, their Victorian terrace house served as the SevilPeach headquarters until 1996, when they moved to their current studio. “What we discovered from that Tardis-like experience was how effectively and pleasantly we would work in varied settings – living room, kitchen, garden – without being tied to a desk or computer,” says Peach. The design equivalent of going from singing with your hairbrush in the bathroom mirror to performing live for a large…

Innovation Precinct, Auckland by Warren & Mahoney & GridAKL tenancy by Jasmax “The design of the precinct breaks down the conventional boundaries between businesses, and between business and the community.” “We have three innate psychological needs – competence, autonomy and relatedness. When those needs are satisfied, we’re motivated, productive and happy,” writes Daniel Pink in Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, his best-seller from 2009. These words have inspired managers and designers the world over in workplace management and design. As wireless, portable technology has supported a move towards agile working, teams and individuals can now have greater control over both their time and work location – a level of independence and choice that sparks motivation and creativity for many In parallel to this quiet evolution in the…

One Microsoft Place, Ireland by Gensler Measuring over 30,500 square metres, One Microsoft Place in Ireland ran the risk of becoming an unfathomable mega campus. The project – which reinforces the tech company’s focus on unification – consolidates over 2000 staff from three buildings into one Dublin location. Treating the workforce like a community, the designers at Gensler – the outfit responsible for the interior – wanted to “unearth a way of connecting everyone and everything”, says Amanda Baldwin, senior associate at Gensler. “How did we do it? We call it ‘deconstructing’. First we abandoned all preconceived rules and ideas about typical workplace buildings. When you eliminate the electrical and mechanical systems, the windows and doors, the roof, the bricks and mortar, the foundations… what’s left? Just the land. Or,…

Gijs Nooteboom is a managing partner with Veldhoen + Company which began the ‘revolution’ with the legendary Interpolis in the mid-1990s – the world’s introduction to activity-based working. He identifies a number of key issues in workplace planning today. Evolution not revolution “I think we are still in evolution because this process of moving from traditional towards new ways of working is very slow. You have to distinguish between the physical and the mental space. The physical space may seem to go faster, but it doesn’t mean that we as a workforce have really changed to a new mental model because many organisations are copying and pasting solutions from 20 years ago.” It’s all in the mind When it comes to new ways of working, change management is crucial so…

In the field of workplace design we are brilliant at using terms that bamboozle the non-expert and provide the grist for countless inane newspaper articles with misleading headlines. Open plan, hot desking, activity-based working (ABW), and now agile, are all buzzwords that strike fear into the heart of office workers and do little to enlighten the workplace model they profess to describe. And to further cause discomfort, the real estate industry is always ready to grab and over-simplify the next fad and anoint it as the new model that will change the world or work. The reality is that there are good and bad workplaces of every type and there is far more variety than these simplistic terms can begin to describe. Perhaps we should adopt the Inuit approach (50…

For Melinda Huuk of The Studio* Collaborative, good design is about more than just talent, it’s about strategy. Both a designer and entrepreneur, Huuk shares her insights into surviving past start-up phase. On an unseasonably cool day in spring, The Studio* Collaborative office provides welcome respite from the elements. Nestled into a five-storey converted warehouse in Sydney’s Surry Hills, the space is warmed by morning light amplified by whitewashed walls and timber floors. It’s sunny but understated – much like Melinda Huuk, the practice’s founder and director of design and strategy. “We don’t feel the need for this to scream,” Huuk explains. “We’d rather it just be a space where people can come and feel comfortable.” People centricity has long been a focus for Huuk who, after 20 years, stepped…

Design is all about solving problems. So what happened when an industrial design studio in Portland, Oregon was presented with a unique challenge of their own? The answer is simple, the studio used design to come up with a solution that turned into an award-winning product. That studio was Ziba Design and this is the story of its JumpSeat. Ziba Design had an incredible new theatre space within its Portland headquarters, and rather than going for traditional seats, the studio fell in love with the simple, raw concrete steps. The problem was found in the fact that a city like Portland gets pretty cold and sitting on raw concrete is uncomfortable. The studio tried a couple of straightforward approaches, such as loose cushions, but much was left-to be desired. Thus,…

QT Perth by Nic Graham & Associates and Indyk Architects “We aim to create spaces for QT where you can open up your bag in your room and let your undies fall out, or order a coffee and take your laptop down to the lobby,” says designer Nic Graham. Perth is a town of boom and bust economic cycles: the first gold rush of the 1890s gave the city its grand Victorian buildings, a few of which survive in various forms. The 1980s ushered in another golden age when Australia won the America’s Cup yachting race, and entrepreneur Alan Bond lavished his hometown with a Midas touch. These prosperous decades provided rich inspiration for the city’s newest five-star hotel, QT Perth, designed by Nic Graham and Associates (public areas) and…

Agents of Spring, Melbourne by GroupGSA + artillery As workplace design distances itself from corporate jungle gyms glamorised by the tech utopias of Silicon Valley – think in-house slides and ball pits, à la Google HQ – it is nevertheless worth pondering the true value of playfulness in the office. After all, as Agents of Spring will attest, all work and no play makes for a narrow-minded business strategy The Melbourne-based innovation agency founded by Evette Cordy and her husband, Troy McKinna, consults with companies in diverse sectors, including fast-moving consumer goods, telcos, real estate groups, universities, and start-ups. Its mission: applying strategic play and creative problem solving techniques to better target pressure points within their clients’ businesses. “People often say the office feels like a children’s wonderland,” says Cordy.…

The rising demand for flexible and diverse spaces “When you look at the history of the office, we’ve been here before. The factories of the past were open plan and then came the cubicle. We’re moving through the same cycles,” shared designer Jonathan Olivares on the Vitra stand. What lessons can be gleaned from our past, or likewise from the latest research? Our desire for sparkling open plan interiors has been at the sacrifice of quietness. Certainly it’s a good thing that the traditional hierarchies of the ‘top dog’ corner office have abated, or even disappeared altogether, but this newfound egalitarianism has had knock-on effects in other areas. Namely the lack of diversity, flexibility and ability to take ownership of a workstation. This is where the designer can get stuck…

The Australian workplace is forever buzzing with new catchwords to label the latest shifts in workplace design. True, Australia is widely regarded as among the most innovative countries in the world when it comes to workplace design. But this disguises the fact that it often entails little more than a fresh set of fittings, furnishings and finishes, turning the office into a kind of business class airport lounge. This is not sleight of hand on the part of designers, but a failure to own the problem – namely, to understand the business in question, its culture and aspirations and only then to devise an appropriate physical environment. It is, says Gijs Nooteboom from Veldhoen + Company, a failure to discern the difference between a workplace strategy and a project methodology.…

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At Orgatec last year the conversation around the ‘modern workplace’ centred on workplace culture, wellness at work and, as an extension of that, the increasing need for greater privacy within open plan office environments. Jason Mark, director of The Meta Collective, who was in attendance at the biennial trade fair, says the prominence of these themes really reinforced for him the importance of human-oriented solutions that uniquely respond to users’ needs while also tapping into shifting workplace trends. “Without a doubt, open plan spaces have swung a little too far towards high density, with a notable lack of privacy,” notes Mark. “As a result we’ve ended up with open, noisy and often chaotic spaces. At the same time, we’re discovering that one in four people can’t compartmentalise background noise.” Mark…

The early 1980s was a milestone period in design. Fashion designer Rei Kawakubo sent ‘shock waves’ down the runway in Paris with her deconstructed oversized clothes. Architecture and design was equally brave with designers such as Philippe Starck bringing a good dose of humour into our lives. Fast-forward several decades and what do we find? Pale pink velvet-covered ottomans placed next to pale grey velvet-covered sofas. It’s become all too sanitary for this writer, with interiors in particular expressing a certain politeness, like never before! Stylists, decorators and most importantly, clients, have instructed architects and designers from all fields to play it safe. The goal is to present something that won’t ruffle feathers or make the occupants using these spaces – whether they be commercial or domestic – feel ill…

The re-thinking of workplace design over the last three decades certainly reflects a recognition of the importance of innovation, resilience and agility in a fast-changing and increasingly competitive business environment. But, of course, it also reflects the emergence of new kinds of businesses, technologies and community values. Among the many extraordinarily innovative new workplaces that have emerged, there have also been a lot that amount to little more than a decorative make-over. True, offices are brighter, more playful and offer more amenity to staff, but how much do they really add to productivity, efficiency and innovation? Well, the jury is still out on that because we struggle with metrics to quantify the benefits of, say, activity-based working. But intuitively we feel that an intelligently designed workplace results in commercial benefits.…

Memocorp grand lobby, Sydney by The Stella Collective Upon entering the grand lobby of Memocorp’s Sydney flagship building, 259 George Street, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d accidentally wandered into a boutique design hotel. Plush seating and statement furniture abound, while metallic accents offset a powdery palette of pastels that is at once dreamy and inviting. That the lobby, designed by Melbourne practice The Stella Collective, should so strongly evoke a hospitality space is no accident. As director Hana Hakim explains, “Our client wanted to shape the brief around the ritual of hospitality.” Memocorp tasked The Stella Collective with designing three spaces within the 42-storey building on Sydney’s George Street: the grand lobby, end of trip facilities, and the property group’s own penthouse office. As the designers behind acclaimed hospitality…

K&K Industries, Melbourne by ArchitectsEAT Cremorne on Melbourne’s inner-urban fringe is known for its authentic industrial edge, the gritty backdrop to a fleet of trendier-than-thou cafés and meticulously curated furniture showrooms. With old private allotments butted up against vast heritage warehouses, it is a precinct of predetermined spatial oddities. After completing the architectural design of K&K Industries’ office building, the ArchitectsEAT team was engaged to create a bespoke workplace for K&K within a 300-square-metre top floor tenancy. Having collaborated with K&K before, the existing relationship between ArchitectsEAT and its builder client enabled a kind of creative professional shorthand. “There was a common understanding of how the design should sit and what it should do,” says Eid Goh, director at ArchitectsEAT. “And the fact that the client was also their own…

“If you look in the dictionary, you’ll see the definition of environment isn’t purely about the physical, it also encompasses social or cultural interactions that have impact on an individual’s life.” In today’s workplace where technology is king and the digital realm is as important as the physical, there’s a renewed focus on people. It may seem like a contradiction; many would argue, after all, that the rise of social media has managed to push us further apart rather than bring us closer together. But the reality is that advancements in new technologies have enabled better communication. Those physical obstacles that once stood in the way of pulling together the best team possible are no longer an issue. It no longer matters that a potential candidate is based in Toronto…