Image Credit : Tyrone Branigan
Project Overview
A single core value, a strategically collaborative design process and a 4-metre tall indoor tree are what brought the RSL office fit-out together in a perfect amalgamation of culture and design.
As part of an office relocation initiative, the RSL project necessitated the consolidation of 9 different sites into one centralised, accessible location. Of equal importance, however, was the desire to ‘bring the outdoors in’, as a tribute to the premises they were leaving behind.
Engaging the client in an intensive workplace strategy from the outset, which included several collaborative design workshops, Axiom was able to pave the way for a fundamental alignment of outcomes, interpretation of the brief and its resulting design.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Tara Gunasekera, Tina Teofilo: Interior Designers
Alison Lau, Tifana Ang: Supporting Design
Matt Woods: Head of Projects
Rico du Plessis: Project Manager
David Comfort: Site Manager
Lindsay Robinson: Project Coordinator
Alister Hales: Head of Client Relations
Annelie Xenofontos: Senior Workplace Strategist
Milton Dalziel: Head of Technical
Project Brief
The focus of this project was to bring the outdoors in. Relocating from Narrabeen to St Leonards, RSL was looking to create a newly inspirational environment for their employees that would also ease the transition for the existing staff to the new site.
With the previous office having had great access to outdoor areas, the key goal in this new location was to retain that connection to nature and the environment, using materials inspired by the Australian landscape, room naming nomenclature following the same theme and a localised palette.
It was also essential to bring the RSL team on the creative journey with Axiom to ensure maximum engagement and efficacy with the completed project and their new home.
Project Innovation/Need
The most exciting design element of the project is undoubtedly the tree on Level 4. Standing 4 metres tall and reaching through a structural void cut into the office’s middle level (Level 5) to pair with an identical space created by our newly introduced staircase, this conceptual maple tree is an innovation unique to this project.
With simple assembly and installation, this LED maple tree requires no ongoing maintenance over time and includes the ability to transition the leaf colours as befits the season, anchoring the ethos of a similarly transitional colour palette employed for the overall design. Selected to represent the varying nature of the Australian landscape, earthy greens surround the tree on Level 4 and translate upwards through to moody deep sea blues on Level 6.
Characterised by warm inviting timbers, the middle floor through which the conceptual tree reaches is the more communal floor, distinct from the other two working levels, with a centralised breakout area, balcony access for the staff from all three floors, a gathering space, meeting rooms as well as being multifunctional for staff training.
As a signature feature, this design element not only provides a visual connection through these different levels, but it also reinforces the clients’ connection to nature and can be seen as an homage to the cherished benefits of their previous workspace.
Design Challenge
The primary challenge lay in restructuring the design of the multiple floors to allow access to flow between the three. This was achieved through the introduction of the interconnecting staircase which necessitated that the design and construction processes had to function in parallel.
Previously, there had only been stair access between Levels 4 and 5, however by redesigning the staircase as an interconnecting path that pivots and extends to Level 6, the free flowing access is now more culturally inclusive with the added benefit of opening up the space, rather than segregating the upper level.
This cut out in the middle level is symmetrically balanced by its neighbouring void, which the conceptual tree stands through.
The tree itself also proved challenging. Originally proposed as a genuine living tree, there were several logistical roadblocks which prevented Axiom from installing to plan. The proposed weight of the tree on the existing floor slab, including soil and water, was not recommended from an engineering point of view.
There was limited space allowing for growth and maintenance of the tree over time, and additional hydraulics would have been required to provide ongoing irrigation to the living tree using the base building services. Its central location also meant that the distance of the tree to the perimeter of the building limited its access to natural sunlight.
Sustainability
Our approach to sustainability in RSL’s new offices was guided organically by the core precept of ‘bringing the outdoors in’. This was implemented through the introduction of abundant living greenery into the space and using furniture and finishes sourced locally, both supporting the local economy and reducing the carbon footprint of the project overall.
In an effort to create a variety of visual touch points with nature across all three levels, native plants were used extensively throughout the space, whether it be the ‘green wall’ on arrival at reception, plentiful free standing plants throughout the working levels and hanging plants bordering the kitchen and the perimeter of the mid-level’s structural void, all anchored by the central pinnacle of the conceptual tree.
This Australian aesthetic influence was embellished with textiles from a domestic fabrics company, which do all their printing locally, incorporating indigenous flora and patterns by local artists into their products.
Interior Design - Public or Institutional
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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