12WBT OFFICES Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia | 2012

This project is a small office fit-out on the top floor of a 1960s office building in Surry Hills, Sydney, for a health and fitness company. In addition to the general office there is also a studio space used for filming live online video presentations.

The client brief was for an office space for up to 16 permanent staff, 4 hot desks, 4 directors offices, reception and meeting room, shower and bathroom facilities as well as a studio space incorporating a full kitchen for online cooking demonstrations. The studio also serves as a break-out space for the office.

The irregular plan form of the existing building allowed for simple zoning of the space with offices along the western street front windows, general open plan office space in the centre and the studio taking up the remaining triangular space, with eastern windows providing ample natural light for filming. The studio space can be screened off from the general office by a sheer curtain during filming and functions. The low ceiling was the underside of the roof slab, with no provision for services, which called for exposed cable trays and air conditioning ducts to be installed, off which lighting is suspended and power and data cabling is dropped to the desks below via spines.

This is the first ever office of a young fast growing company, which had no corporate identity. The choice of the strong yellow and Avocado green colour highlights in a clean white space and the repetitive use of white Eames shell chairs, with grey or Avocado green upholstery, provides them with a professional but casual visual identity appropriate for their business without the look of a start-up. Future expansion has been designed into the furniture layout, with the studio space able to move to a remote location if required and the custom designed desks simply doubling in length. The alternating colour carpet tiles avoid a monotonous run of cellular offices, while visually differentiating them from the grey carpeted general office. Visual privacy between offices has been achieved with white frits of graduating size, that fade away above eye level, applied to the glass partitions.

With opening windows on the 2 long sides to the space, there is abundant natural light and cross ventilation, making air- conditioning optional depending on seasons.

The project was constructed for the modest cost of $1,500.00 per square metre, inclusive of all furniture.

Photographer: Daniel Mayne