Every architect designs for the future, but it's rare to find a space that has become the norm well before it came to be.
Gensler’s Sydney office is an embodiment of this statement. Completed in 2016, the office features the right mix of open plan workstations and private meeting rooms, as well as a hospitality-esque lobby and end-of-trip facilities. Gensler Principal Tom Owens says future planning dictated much of the selection process when the practice began the search for their new workspace.
“We looked at it from the perspective of where we will be in five years. We didn’t want to wait. We wanted to be green star certified and utilise sustainable materials where possible and our energy comes from renewable sources,” he says.
“This is what people are asking for. We’ve found ourselves between being too open or being too closed. This office is it.”
The lobby that greets guests on arrival provides a window into the commercial spaces Gensler intends to design for clients. A round table encourages connection and discussion, while a fireplace and kitchen give it a very residential feel Owens says this is intentional.
“We designed our office to feel like how we want our clients to feel when they enter their office. We needed to demonstrate that when they came to visit what we were aiming for when we were designing their spaces.”
The workstations and meeting rooms sit above the lobby, with an abundance of contiguous space allowing for informal work. Flexibility is key to the office, with the versatile layout giving the practice the ability to pivot with various covid restrictions, whether it be full lockdowns or square metre rulings.
“This (office) was one of the catalysts for us to look differently our own organisation,” Owens says.
“The feedback has always been really good and consistent from the start, which was nice to hear and reaffirmed what we were doing was right.”
End-of-trip facilities and similar amenities have only become a major consideration for clients in recent times. At the time Gensler was on the lookout for a new space, they came across what would become their future office, which coincidentally features end-of-trip facilities.
“The war for end of trip was just kicking off in 2015. Few buildings had good end-of-trip. The end-of-trip facilities here were just being built at the time we were looking at this space, and that factored into our decision.”
Although resembling the post-pandemic office, Gensler have since had to retrofit acoustic panels within the meeting rooms, to account for raised voices on zoom calls. The office sits in close proximity to a number of public transport options, and is rated as an A-grade space with a high NABERS rating, despite being built in the mid-20th century.
As a tenant of the building, Gensler is looking to constantly influence sustainable choices. Discussions are had regarding waste stream, diversion and power sourcing. Owens indicates the switch to sustainable operation lies in the repurposing and reuse of materials and interior elements, which play a massive role in reducing emissions and waste.
“There’s low hanging fruit in terms of sustainability. It really is about your fitouts and how you’re building. New tenants replacing furniture and materials causes lots of waste. We’ve always been beating the drum of providing an empty shell right down to the concrete, and letting the tenants come in and do what they need to. From a sustainability standpoint, that’s the best thing to do.”
Owens references the future NBA Sydney store, located at 5 Martin Place, as a project where adaptive reuse is crucial. With strict heritage regulations, the practice has looked to preserve the existing fabric, with an array of columns and clamps seen throughout. Gensler sees projects of this kind as an opportunity.
“When we’re talking to clients about repositioning buildings, the first question is always ‘how much can we reuse?’”
“We know that means more work for a designer, but we see it as a really unique challenge that we prefer, as opposed to going in fresh.”
Gensler has achieved net zero operations already in Australia, well before the practice’s worldwide target of 2030. The practice attributes much of that to its office, the pre-pandemic space that’s become a hallmark of post-pandemic workplace design.
For more information, visit gensler.com.
