Image Credit : PHOTOGRAPHER: OWEN ZHU
Project Overview
A mid century club lounge on a small 21st century budget was the client brief and the conceptual starting point: lots of unfinished wood surfaces, dignified furnishings and splashes of flamboyant colour. With minimum modifications to the building infrastructure, a dynamic resolution was achieved to the delight of the client. Designed in 6 weeks and constructed in 8 this project was achieved through innovation and the assistance of a determined builder.
The result was a provocative mix of grown up sophistication and youthful playfulness.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Founded in 1986 headed by principal architects Tone Wheeler and Jan O’Connor. environa studio is one of Australia’s leading sustainable architecture practices. Our projects include master planning, urban design, civic and commercial buildings, group and individual housing for public and private clients. We integrate architecture, interiors, engineering and landscape for a more sustainable future. We have been involved in the rewriting of building and sustainability regulations and are widely quoted in the media for our designs, ideas and activism. We have won numerous awards and competitions for our designs, as well as their sustainability.
environa studio is widely recognized as an innovative practice, upholding the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility. Our projects are creative and experimental, but always practical and liveable. We have made sustainability the core of our work, and the driving force of our practice philosophy.
Architect, Rory Toomey, joined environa studio in 2010 and has worked on a variety of projects from interiors to medium density housing. He has a particular interest in prefab, sustainable and low cost building methods.
Builder: Hobbs + Blair Constructions; foreman: Jock Blair
Project Brief
After 10 years of operations, online music promoters The Sound Alliance had outgrown their premises when they found a vacant floor in a 1970s office block near Central Station, Sydney. In mid 2011, they approached environa studio with a challenging brief:
•move an operation of 50 staff from 3 small spaces into 1 larger one
•meet a tight budget & timeframe
•do this without any of the staff knowing
Thankfully, much of the infrastructure was already in place as the space had previously housed MySpace; the extensive internet and data needs were already mostly catered for.
environa worked closely with the clients on the brief and proposed minimal interventions to the existing layout to preserve the majority of the budget allowance for the three key spaces:
•a plywood lined reception area
•a large corner boardroom and directors’ breakout space
•two intimate colour-themed meeting rooms
The balance of the scope of works involved new workstation layouts, a tidy up of existing facilities and fitting out of a staff break out lounge with informal seating, a video gaming console and DJ booth.
The clients requested a provocative mix of grown up sophistication and youthful playfulness.
Project Innovation / Need
The space and brief called for a series of modest interventions, each having the maximum impact on amenity and image.
The main points of difference are the project’s use, in a boutique office fit out, of everyday structural materials for the finished surfaces and the strong use of solid colour and pattern in the space.
We chose structural CD plywood for its natural warmth, cost effectiveness and sustainability. The ply has high impact as it is usually associated with more prosaic applications [packing crates, formwork, hoardings] and the result was a strong visual effect.
The speed and cost efficiency of painting was used as a technique to ‘rebrand’ the space which prompted an extensive paint program. Existing meeting rooms inherited from the MySpace days were given a monochromatic makeover, thematically linked with two of the client’s key brands: Red for FASTER LOUDER and blue for IN THE MIX.
The previously drab wall to the toilets and service rooms became a canvas for a giant composition of colour blocks utilizing the SOUND ALLIANCE brand colours mixed with white, grey and black tones turning one of the space’s main deficits into a punchy graphic feature.
Design Challenge
Our clients came to us with a strong idea of the atmosphere they wanted but with an open mind on how to achieve it: in other words, the best kind of client.
The design process was fast and furious with frequent meetings and communications in the first few weeks while we developed our concepts. The principle challenges in the project came from combining a long wish list with a short timeframe and budget. All decisions were made with these factors in mind:
• joinery was kept simple to facilitate on site fabrication by carpenters, rather than cabinetmakers.
• works were staged by area to allow multiple trades to overlap within the space
• some materials were cut off site and carried in before business hours to minimize noise and dust in the building.
Working in a fully tenanted office building raised logistic issues requiring consultation with the building owners, neighbours and builders. We found everyone was keen to work together so most curly problems were readily addressed.
The process was relatively smooth thanks largely to a good builder and a strong client/architect relationship.
Sustainability
Sustainability has many layers, it’s true, but our guiding principle for typical office fit out design is ‘long life and loose fit’. All new works were designed to this end to be reversible and easily removed.
Refinishing existing built fabric [walls, cabinets, floors, ceilings, entire rooms] was chosen over demolition and rebuilding in every instance.
Plywood was selected for it’s affordability, low wastage and relatively low carbon footprint.
New electrical works were either surface run or in existing open ducting.
New paint finishes were all water based, low VOC.
Floor repairs were done using pieces of the existing carpet slated for removal.
New carpet was specified in carpet tiles from Interface FLOR, a world leader in carpet recycling and sustainable flooring.
The overall effect is to produce a place that the clients will enjoy and keep for a long time, which, all things considered, is the most sustainable outcome.
Architecture - Commercial - Constructed
This award recognises the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow. The project must be constructed.
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