Design with Chutzpah

By Teresa Simon

Photography: Peter Clarke; courtesy the architects

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Melbourne Design Studio literally doubles up an industrial office space, rejuvenating it into an environmentally and socially sustainable, pulsating, chic go-getter!

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A bunch of creative young people at the headquarters of international award-winning digital design agency ‘Reactive Media’ working in a dark gloomy environment decided to perk up their drab surroundings with exactly what they epitomised – youthfulness, cheer, chutzpah! In came along Melbourne Design Studio, a design firm that perfectly comprehended their brief and transformed the approx. 480 m. sq. office into a whopping 1000 sq. m., opening up the fit-out into a space that now pulsates as resolutely as its inmates.

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Ensuring that the interior-architecture of the place reflected the branding and corporate ideologies, company colours were ticked off as the interior colour palette and the industrial space opened up, doing away with all the small dark cubicles that crowded it. With daylight and natural ventilation flooding the space, an open work pool sustains the camaraderie that this office is accustomed to enjoying amidst impromptu staff breakfasts, parties, and even sporting events.

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Simultaneously optimizing an absolutely functional floor plan, warm, feel-good ‘insulas’ that can be used for formal or informal meetings, staff breakout areas, leisure activities, boardroom, and elements like an open staircase with a feature screen and area for ‘by-chance-meetings’ beside it, establish the company culture without actually having to spell it out loud. The design of bicycle storage as a quality space within one of the breakout areas (rather than as a secondary space), to promote cycling, complemented by extra shower areas, silently and effectively position principles of sustainability that the firm propagates.

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With the application of simple materials and intelligent planning, this creative funky Fritzroy office fit-out uses corporate interior design as its branding and marketing lingua franca. The end result is a grand thumbs-up from clients and visitors alike.

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