Stroll into the new Surry Hills headquarters of Australian trend model Aje and also you’re naturally drawn towards a central courtyard bathed in mild. By capitalizing on the constructing’s two best property – an atrium and a glass ceiling – These Architects has created a recent and fashionable, light-filled office that facilitates environment friendly and easy connection and communication.
The property proprietor, Milligan Group, engaged These Architects to remodel the Victorian-era constructing into an inspiring workspace for a inventive tenant. Relationship from the late 1800s, the constructing’s lengthy historical past had amassed in its layers of supplies, advert hoc building and labyrinth of rooms. Home windows have been blacked out, ceilings charcoaled – the earlier occupant, Porteño Restaurant, skilled a fireplace – and it was a patchwork of texture and sample. “It was darkish, chilly, disorienting and claustrophobic,” says Ben Mitchell, director of These Architects.
Via the layers and labyrinth, the design group recognized two key alternatives: “opening up the central area of the courtyard and restoring the constructing material to be legible and unified,” says Mitchell. They pared again the supplies and constructing to simplify its construction and reveal its volumes, and created a central atrium to carry pure mild into the encompassing areas.
When the administrators of Aje, Adrian Norris and Edwina Forest, noticed the design idea and partial building, they signed the lease for his or her new headquarters. They’d been on the lookout for an inspiring workplace during which their group may work and collaborate effectively, and one which strengthened the Aje model and aesthetic. “It was the right coming collectively of the city and coastal design code that lives on the core of our model,” say the administrators. These Architects wanted to make solely minor modifications to satisfy Aje’s particular wants.
Reinstating the gabled glass roof and making a nine-metre-high central atrium is the pièce de résistance of the fitout, and it’s not solely pivotal to the design idea, but additionally to the structure and performance. The glass roof permits mild to filter all through the inside and supplies a view of the sky and relationship to the outside. The atrium anchors the areas round it, expands the openness and transparency of the inside and permits for clear sightlines, connections and circulation.
These Architects chosen a minimal palette to revive and improve the readability and unity of the previous and new. White textured render throughout the interior constructing construction simplifies its legibility and unifies its type. It additionally accentuates the form of the openings that body the varied work and assembly areas, such because the sequence of arches on the bottom ground. New insertions are in Australian-inspired supplies and align with Aje’s aesthetic of pure, tonal textures and artisan design particulars. Australian hardwood timber battens curve across the exterior of the assembly rooms and the reception desk, and eucalyptus-coloured tubular-steel balustrades on the steps and first ground are a play on the traditional pool fence. Limestone paves the circulation areas, goat-hair carpet softens workspaces, and a bit of terracotta ground tiles preserved beneath glass is a nod to the constructing’s multi-layered previous.
Aje is utilizing and adapting the varied areas, as These Architects designed and meant. Downstairs, the reception, assembly rooms and boardroom are alongside the western boundary, and workspaces sit between the arches on the jap facet. Aje’s assortment is showcased within the courtyard on custom-designed racks, the place the pure mild and tonal palette present a relaxed and balanced backdrop. The administrators’ places of work and the design and manufacturing areas are upstairs, and a kitchen and breakout area, oriented towards the again laneway, have an enclosed terrace that feels semi-outside and evokes a beach-house vibe.
Occupying the nook of Cleveland and Riley streets, the constructing has a heritage overlay as a contributory merchandise. A smooth mint inexperienced color has freshened up the facades, with the unique Victorian particulars, resembling parapets and lintels, highlighted in white trim. Exterior home windows have additionally been reglazed to light up assembly rooms, places of work and manufacturing areas.
These Architects initially designed the workspace for an unknown tenant, however with the expertise to know that mild and open interiors are a serious drawcard. The recent and fashionable workplace demonstrates the attraction and flexibility of readability in design, offering Aje with a headquarters that helps its creativity, operations and model.