Woods Bagot has completed a refurbishment at one of Brisbane’s most premium waterside office buildings - Waterfront Place.
The architecture firm’s design aim was to create a destination for tomorrow, blurring the line between the city and work environment
The design competition had called for greater opportunity for tenant interaction, and the design approach was derived from a careful analysis of how people use the foyer, in addition to the immediate context and a wider understanding of its direct surroundings.
A series of organic and linear elements informed the final design thus enabling the Lobby to be revived and transformed into the ultimates business and social meeting destination for tomorrow.
Mark Damant, Principal, Woods Bagot said: “Our design team came up with a somewhat simple proposition and asked, could the city be ‘stretched’ into the foyer and the workplace to create a type of interstitial typology, where people could meet in between the city and the workplace?
Waterfront Place (Images: Scott Burrows)
“Inherent to achieving this we saw a need to create a space full of life and energy that was part of the city; not a space apart.”
Concerned that the foyer could easily become cluttered and overly busy, the design proposition clearly defined a set of subspaces that were both visually and practically considered, as well as respecting the existing, well understood foyer space.
The creation of sub spaces has allowed for a new cafe, social areas, entertainment areas for functions, and a business zone for meetings.
“A greater variety of work, collaboration and meeting settings where we are moving from rigid to agile spaces, are delivering an improved way of networking amongst colleagues. The design of Waterfront Place’s new environment embraces this, and provides a series of zones to accommodate multiple tasks,” Damant said.
Another feature of the Waterfront place development is the new river access canopy. This canopy creates an organic curve which nestles over an existing pathway and improved landscape, with the form reflecting the building geometry.
“An aim of the design process was to explore the wider context of Waterfront Place’s location in Eagle Street and reflect the geometry and vocabulary of some of Brisbane’s most important architectural landmarks, enhancing the sense of connectivity, both at a human level, but also at an architectural one,” said Damant.
To further enhance the spatiality of the area and define the sub spaces of the foyer, the lighting is designed to complement the flow of the space. Additionally, the new lighting installation reduces energy consumption considerably.
