Table of contents for INDESIGN #80 - Workplace in INDESIGN

Here we are: 2020. The year Indesign celebrates 20 years of publishing industry-leading projects and championing great design to a global audience. When the magazine was first started, produced out of a two-bedroom apartment in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra, print was considered gospel. Back then we couldn’t have foreseen how the information age would force such a drastic evolution in the way we publish, consume and share information. In the year 2020 we find ourselves at an exciting turning-point in what is a rapidly spinning world of progress and innovation. It’s thanks to the boundless energy of our publisher and immense faith of our supporters and audiences that we today bring you Indesign magazine – just as beautiful, strong, insightful and refreshing as it always was. Still the heartland…

In an ideal workplace, staff are engaged, productivity is high, the place feels good and it is fit-for-purpose. What this looks like, of course, is constantly in flux. As ideas around work and life change, technology advances, where and how a team functions comes up for discussion, so too do work environments – and workplace furniture. One brand that has acute knowledge of this is Accent Furniture, which is celebrating 50 years in the business. Founded in 1969 by Neil Kennard on the Central Coast of New South Wales, three generations later the family business is still actively servicing the corporate, education and healthcare sectors with quality modern furniture. As head of business development, Alby Kennard, explains: “Neil’s same passion for design lives on and we now service both corporate…

INDESIGN Luminary Ross Gardam is softly spoken, but with a subtext suggesting he has always known where he’s going, where he’s come from, and why. That’s probably not entirely true, but he certainly gives the impression that every step he has taken in what has been a successful and highly productive career has had its place in the larger scheme, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. But if this is the case, it suggests unusual focus from an early age – a focus which is evident in the beautifully resolved products which come out of the studio. “Like a lot of industrial designers,” he recalls, “I grew up around making objects and building things. My father was an engineer who ran a brick-making factory. So, I was exposed to…

I was waiting on a phone call. It was a Friday, one of the decade’s last, and everything seemed to have unravelled. Outside, school children were on strike. Their prime minister hectored “more learning […] less activism […] go to school.” But it was thin, hot air. Resources Minister Matthew Canavan, meanwhile, flung contempt at some as young as eight. “The best thing you’ll learn going to a protest is how to join the dole queue. Because that’s what your life will look like.” There it was. Again. A future of positive climate transformation apparently thwarting a future of professional self-sufficiency. My inner Greta Thunberg rankled. The receiver clicked. I wanted a hot take. “It’s hard to keep focus on what is really important here,” says a woman’s voice at…

Mercury, Auckland by Warren and Mahoney Energy retailer and 100 per cent renewable electricity generator Mercury has united its Auckland team of over 560 people from three offices into one, central Newmarket site. Moving from a fixed-desk environment to an activity-based working environment has quickly transformed people’s daily experience and work style. In this new location, business units once separated and siloed are now mixing and talking more, gaining a deeper and more holistic knowledge of the business. Empowering teams and individuals with greater freedom, mobility and choice, the agile environment promotes wellbeing through movement and access to not only public, bright and social settings, but also to quiet and contemplative ones. Within months of the move, an internal survey found 83 per cent of Mercury people enjoyed working in…

Modus Head Office, Cronulla by Vitale Design “We felt passionate about delivering something that spoke of openness, where people would feel uninhibited within the space,” says Modus’ Brad Berryman. “There’s an innate comfort and ease about being by the water – we wanted to channel and develop that through a unique culture in the workplace for a place like Cronulla.” A charming building of historical heritage sits in the heart of Cronulla – a suburb nestled within the beaches of Sydney’s south. The Banc building redefines the meaning of coastal luxury in a contemporary hub, blending myriad residential, hospitality and commercial suites. It is on the second floor that a new-age type of workplace sits, setting the new standard for the forward-looking concept of a healthy work-life balance. Run by…

As more of the people who gave the world of work its current shape retire, new notions of work, the tools it uses and where it will be done will transform the workplace to create a new economy of smarter businesses. This will make an entirely new breed of workplace entrepreneurs richer. But, with the future of work increasingly in the hands of those who have never known a life without the internet, it will likely also deepen and enrich the role of the designer. In this economy, organisations are no longer ‘space users’ but ‘learning machines’, constantly transformed by the acquisition and development of new knowledge, driven by networked technology. And one important lesson for workplace architects and designers may be that clients don’t buy interiors or architecture. Instead…

Neil Christopher Design Director Gensler Neil Christopher is design director at Gensler in Sydney and is the Asia Pacific and Middle East practice area leader for financial services firms. His focus is on design, client management and project leadership with clients from a wide range of industries throughout Australia, Asia, the US, Europe and New Zealand. Neil regularly collaborates with the consulting practice in Gensler, delivering on experience-led design strategies. Micro-Tenancies Will Breed Mega-Cities Page 132 Dan Cox Director, Interior Design Carr Dan Cox’s experience and skill are in the delivery of efficient and intelligent design solutions for Carr’s clients. Working across workplace, hospitality and building renewal projects, Dan leads the design team in the translation of the brief into design outcomes that support overarching spatial and project objectives. Dan…

Ours is a profession that should lead change, not future proof against it, says Stephen Crafti. Terms such as future proofing have their moments in the sun. For the last couple of years we have regularly used these words, and often in conjunction with sustainability. It’s as though by making architecture and design ‘proofed’ for the future, nothing needs to be done for the foreseeable lifetime of a building. Although the idea seems entirely appropriate, given the concern for the environment, future proofing is extremely difficult to achieve. Let’s face it, architecture and design – as well as fashion and decorative arts – is about change: some voluntary, some due to changes in society, technology or environmental. Because these industries are inherently linked to humans and their interaction with the…

On the 20th anniversary of Stylecraft and Arper’s partnership, the two brands celebrate a shared journey of authentic, relevant design and look ahead to the next era of collaboration in workplace, residential and commercial design solutions. In 2020, Stylecraft and Arper celebrate 20 years as partners – making the Italian design brand one of Stylecraft’s longest running European partnerships. This is no small feat and certainly reason to celebrate. But what’s more impressive than endurance in the Stylecraft/Arper story is that this has been two-decades of synergy. Since 2000, they’ve continued to provide the Australian market with everything from versatile classics – Catifa, Duna and Pix families, through to more recent collections, including Cila, Cila Go, Kiik and Zinta. So that in 2020, Arper features in a great diversity of…

Carpe Diem at Barangaroo Tower 2, Sydney by International Towers and Geyer High up in Tower Two International Towers is a new, connected two-level workplace curated for the needs of a neglected sector of the business community. It is the brainchild of Liam Timms, International Towers’ fund manager, developed in collaboration with Geyer partner, Robyn Lindsey. “I looked at the market,” he says, “and it had a gap of quality where there was a lot of very average product for established businesses of 20-50 people.” It is a part of the market, he explains, that has a lot of very talented people who have started their own businesses. But they are fully established, not start-ups. The start-ups, Timms points out, “will go and chase the co-working”. But these small-to-medium-sized established…

A lot can happen in four years. For Bates Smart’s Australian Unity project that period focused towards instilling change and executing a new workplace that would respond to the evolving needs of a large corporation. As one of Australia’s oldest insurance companies, taking time to build its new office the right way, and not rushing the process, came all too naturally for Australian Unity. But given the project’s scale, the design required thoughtful consideration for how the business may continue to adapt. The base build was designed by John Wardle Architects and features a single tower that swallows two existing heritage buildings – The Elms Family Hotel and The Church of England Mission Hall, which happened to be designed by Bates Smart (then Bates, Peebles and Smart) in 1894. Australian…

Nothing has disrupted traditional workplace design quite like the co-working phenomenon. Even as global titan and ‘workplace solutions’ provider WeWork stumbled into the New Year, the demand for office space that accommodates multiple tenants at the one time in the one place continues to grow exponentially. It’s a sign of the times that this is the way most of us want to work now. Fuelled by a changing workforce characterised by the views and ideals of Millennials and Generation Z, today’s workplaces are all about flexibility, diversity and community. The days of single-use spaces are numbered. And according to the Gensler Research Institute’s Gensler Design Forecast (2019): Shaping the Future of Cities, integrated workplaces are the new standard. This report finds that single-use venues are being replaced by hybrid destinations,…

We are currently seeing the rapid emergence of highly experiential interiors. Across hotels and co-working spaces, a plethora of hybridised environments are appearing faster than ever before. As a result, the public realm is increasingly driven by a need for the kind of connection these spaces are fostering. The deeply human need to be part of something bigger can align with the provision of a universal language to connect through the spaces we inhabit. Hotel experience has shared parameters with workplace design. These are highly curated spaces that have cast a powerful spell upon the workplace sector. We see more briefs calling for a greater sense of alignment with next-gen lifestyles, with many of the sited benchmarks increasingly turning to the world of hotels. Leveraging from other sectors is no…

QUT Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct Building Brisbane Page 76 Architect Wilson Architects and Henning Larsen Architect and Interior Design Team, WA John Thong, Hamilton Wilson, Michael Herse, Daniel Tsang, Annie Yen, Luke Gavioli, Sophie Lorenz, Georgina Russell, Alex Quah-Smith, Charlotte Bryant, Ilka Salisbury, Jenny Yang, John Harrison, Lia Kim, Maddie Zahos, Michelle Duval, Rachel Levi, HLA’s Jacob Kurek, Julian Chen Project Manager Robin Sweasey, Cassandra Howard and Jeremiah Lynch, Turner & Townsend Thinc Builder Hansen Yunken Civil / Structural Engineer Opus Electrical Engineer WSP Fire Engineer ARUP Façade Engineer Aecom Hydraulic Engineer Opus Budget $50 million Final construction cost $94 million Duration 2017-2019 Wilson Architects wilsonarchitects.com.au Henning Larsen henninglarsen.com Furniture Herman Miller Caper chair, Herman Miller. Okamura Runa chair, UCI. About A Chair, Bella coffee table, HAY. FS Line conference…

Dynamic and collaborative workplaces, custom solutions and responsible design that thinks global, acts local. These are the values that are increasingly sought after when it comes to commercial design and the context within which Living Edge announces Derlot Group: a new venture with chief designer and founder of the Australian-owned, multi-disciplinary design studio Derlot, Alexander Lotersztain. Building on Lotersztain’s 15 years’ experience in leading the commercial furniture market and his truly collaborative and humancentred approach to design, Derlot Group is a new identity that brings together the best of Derlot’s furniture brands – Derlot Editions and Les Basic – and welcomes new and exciting furniture collections that centre locally sourced, custom and bespoke furniture solutions that are adaptable, versatile and uniquely Australian. And have a global outlook. Exclusive to Living…

QUT Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct Building, Brisbane by Wilson Architects and Henning Larsen Education is a gateway to unlocking potential, developing life skills and entering the workforce. Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct Building, designed by Brisbane practice Wilson Architects and Danish firm Henning Larsen, is a gateway in both the physical and figurative sense. The building itself is a major feature of QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus and a facilitator of students preparing to become teachers. “The building is pivotal to QUT in terms of location as it brings together the education faculty, the existing library and a major pedestrian spine that connects the busway to the campus heart,” says John Thong, director of Wilson Architects. “It also provides a memorable, inviting place that enhances student engagement…

Melbourne Airport Headquarters, Melbourne by Foolscap Studio A trip to the airport comes laden with angst: beat the traffic, clear security, make your flight… don’t be late! As travellers we have the advantage of moving through this high stress phase very quickly. But to work at an airport is to be caught in a perpetual limbo of travel tension. “As an [airport] employee, you’re in a tiny minority compared to the actual passengers passing through. The mindset those passengers have really defines the ambience of the environment, and that is often quite tense,” notes Rob Harper, senior interior architect, Foolscap Studio. Foolscap Studio was brought on board to design the new Melbourne Airport Headquarters for the hard-working, round-the-clock team that keeps the cogs turning in what is Australia’s second-busiest airport.…

Agile working and sustainability have become markers of the modern workplace. It is increasingly agreed that collaboration; multiple ways of working; self-organisation and accountability is key. Workplaces should be sustainable – both in terms of environmental impact and longevity. It should come as no surprise really that architects are leading the way – called on to prompt these ways of working through design. COX Architecture’s Brisbane studio is a real lesson in both agile workplaces and sustainable design. Rather than adopting these values to modernise, COX is a firmly contemporary, design-focused practice whose dual drivers are “fluidity and collaboration”; the refurbishment simply took the studio’s lead. As Director, Brooke Lloyd, says, “The foremost challenge was to design a space to suit both the way we work now and how we…

Last year saw the release of the Gensler Design Forecast entitled Shaping The Future of Cities. A veritable compendium of statistical and qualitative insights, the forecast draws on global design findings gathered by the Gensler Research Institute via the firm’s impressive cache of project work. As the world’s largest architecture and design firm (yes, it’s true!), Gensler sees itself as being in a unique position to positively and consciously affect the future of our cities by “taking on the toughest challenges”. The topic of workplace is very much at the forefront of Gensler’s concerns, because “how, when and where we work” is integrally tied to how our cities will look, operate and respond to humans in the future. Gensler’s Neil Christopher draws out the big picture for us with a…

Founded by artists Hannah Plumb and James Russell, Londonbased studio JamesPlumb has spent the past decade straddling the worlds of space and sculpture. Rich yet raw, their interiors ennoble imperfection and are imprinted with narratives. Take Aēsop Lamb’s Conduit Street in London, for example. When the designers were handed the location for the store, they were drawn to the site’s connection to water. (In 1577, the street was christened with William Lamb’s name after he donated money to rebuild an underground conduit). Water – viewed by the designers as a ‘material’ to be subtly and elegantly controlled – became central to the retail environment’s concept. Another key factor became lighting, which is how Plumb and Russell met PSLab. They consulted with experts at the Beirutborn lighting company via Skype to…