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Project Overview

When GroupGSA were asked to reposition a call centre for 1500 Westpac employees in Concord, Sydney, the studio’s graphic team thought big. The result included a 200sqm mural and 100 linear metres of glazing graphics that brings energy and vitality to a single level 16,000sqm floor plate. The arrival to the floor is somewhat like the journey to an airport gate lounge, and the long corridor became the canvas on which to create a uniquely immersive experience for Westpac employees.

As the nature of work is changing driven by increased employer flexibility and mobility, so, too, has the direction of workplace art. Today’s working environments are embracing more human-centered design to create engaging and emotional experiences for employees.

Project Commissioner

Westpac

Project Creator

GroupGSA

Team

Ant Newman - GroupGSA
Barbara Beckmann - GroupGSA
John Dobie - GroupGSA
Emily Crockford - Studio A
Meg Minkley - A drawing a day
Gabrielle Mordy - Studio A
Sebastian Bujnowski - Growthbuilt
Naim El-Kaderi - Growthbuilt
Craig Wiseman - Westpac
Nikki Ozsdolay - Westpac

Project Brief

Embracing the opportunity to enliven the environment, GroupGSA collaborated with Studio A and resident artist Emily Crockford. Studio A is a supported studio that tackles the barriers that artists living with intellectual disability face in accessing the conventional education, professional development pathways and opportunities they need to be successful. The enterprise paves professional pathways for these artists so they can achieve their artistic and economic aspirations.

The GroupGSA Graphics team met early with Studio A to discuss direction and concept for the artwork, intentionally complementing the neutral palette that the interiors team had implemented. A “natural & environmental” theme was conceived, and a large focus was for Emily to artistically interpret that in her own unique way with minimal interference.

The brief outlined the 200sqm mural to be the ‘hero’ piece, supported by a series of 10 hand painted patterns that would refresh the meeting and training rooms within the workspace totalling an impressive 100+ linear metres.

Project Innovation/Need

As an integrated graphic design studio within the larger practice, our role is to generate artwork and graphics for our clients and their environments. Seldom do we get the opportunity to partner with external graphics or visual artists. Partnering with Studio A and artist Emily Crockford was a creative breath of fresh air and one which opened our eyes to different creative approaches, outcomes, styles and methods of working.

For the meeting room privacy glazing, the graphics team digitised Emily’s 10 hand painted patterns and used them to create much larger patterns. In doing so, they were able to weave the different visual themes together seamlessly, creating a strong visual story of the ‘micro’ details. They treated the mural as a macro - taking a step back and looking at the landscape from the distance. The patterns then formed the basis for the graphics, so you could microscopically zoom into this macro landscape and pull parts of it out, so there is a connection to the glazing and the mural.

Design Challenge

The main challenge for us was to bring light and life into the space. Call centres can at times be relatively high-pressured places, so we wanted to use art to help create an environment in which people can feel happy, connected and energised and if the need arises a place to recompose and reset.

The vast scale of the workplace posed another unique challenge for the team. Emily’s methods of creating her artwork are traditional, and while her process was meticulously hand-made ours needed to be digital.

Emily’s 10 individual patterns were digitised and reworked to create much larger scalable patterns that would easily fill the large glazing lengths required. This enabled the various themes to be seamlessly woven together, reinforcing a strong connection of the ‘micro and macro’ nature details whilst injecting much needed colour and energy into the expansive workspace.

Effectiveness

Emily and support artist Meg Minkley brought an initial sketch to life in Westpac’s live working environment. Emily said she loved working on the project, which drew enormous interest and excitement from staff as it was painted, creating a sense of engagement and connection that is quite rare and special.

The Collaborative process and outcome with Studio A was incredibly unique and easily summed up by one simple word – Release. Letting go of the creative reins had an element of the unknown attached to it but at the same time came with an enormous sense of anticipation and excitement. Over the 6 days it was a pleasure and joy to witness Emily create her artwork and a connection to space that transcends the usual branded corporate environment.

Graphic Design - Environmental

This award celebrates creativity and innovation in the intersection of communication design and the built environment, and is concerned with the visual aspects of wayfinding, communication identity and brands, information design and shaping the idea of place. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching of information style to audience.
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