ellivo (Places for Work, Connection & Wellbeing)

After the success of their Brisbane Clinic, Insight Eye Surgery have opened an established clinic in the bustling hub of Mary Street, Noosaville. The purpose built space was transformed from an empty shell tenancy to a sophisticated clinic fitted with the latest opthalmic technology. The clinic embodies a coastal-inspired aesthetic, reflecting the serene context of its coastal location.

A palette of neutral sandy tones flow through the space accented by modern touches of black to seamlessly tie in with the optical equipment, considering both functionality and style. The scope compromised of a variety of consultation rooms, specialist rooms, a staff kitchen and a welcoming reception area with comfortable waiting room.

Located within the central CBD area, this existing commercial building was previously renovated with foam cladding presenting a fire safety risk to its occupants. Rather than simply replacing new for old, there was an opportunity to breathe new life and personality into the existing 1950’s building. With the desire to minimise the impact on the internal fit-outs, retain as much of the existing glazing as possible and working within the limits of the structural load capabilities, a highly unique outcome was required.

The new transformation comprises a matrix of metal cladding panels and extrusions to create a sleek, industrial tectonic to work harmoniously with the existing gridded facade composition. To compliment the tower facade, finer metalwork elements, exposed brickwork and expressive lighting bring a finer grain detail and pedestrian scale to the lower levels.

As part of the new upgrades, the facade design also brings an improvement to the thermal performance of the building, reducing its on-going running costs. When complete, the upgraded building will provide improved long-term investment, create an attractive workspace to its tenants, and continue to act as a citizen of the city for decades to come.

Our task to provide equitable access and better facilities for members and guests is a long and winding road. Fundamentally the original 80’s Architecture stands strong and creating new links through the building, and around the building, is creating some great outcomes. The refurbishment hinges on the greenspace of the greens and the extensive trees and heritage of these, which surround the club.

The sport itself drives us to integrate the activity into the building, blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor. The renovation includes extensive new changerooms for male, female, unisex and PWD, new foyer, lift, business lounge and admin spaces. A new extension includes golf retail and expands the golf operations offerings.

Photography by Brock Beazley

With growing demands for their psychiatric, psychologic and other allied health treatments, it was time for Family Nurture to expand into a new space supported by their new branding.

Dr Amin and his team were very keen to provide a comfortable space for everyone that is calm and welcoming. Their touches of monkeys and books add to the warmth and homely nature of this space.

The palette is refined to reinforce the calm, as are the textures and patterns. Everyone has been thought about here from the kids who want to draw, to those who need their own space away form others, to the staff looking to run training or share a consult room.

Photography by Arrow Media Collective

A space for a psychiatrist requires careful consideration of the interaction between professionals, their clients and their family. This suite highlights how professional care delivered in a thoughtful environment brings warmth and comfort to the experience.

Designed to inspire through glimpses to Mt Coot-tha and artwork by local indigenous artists, the visitors are welcomed into an interesting and private suite which is considerate of their privacy and sensitivity.

Visitors are welcomed to a professional space which has layers of softness through comfort, texture and materials. Given the Suite is small, the coffee area and water point are opened up to clients to encourage moving around the space and finding a place where visitors feel comfortable.

Photography by Cieran Murphy

Within the leafy surrounds of Taringa sits the new home for Generations Medical, consulting doctors and specialist suites with a small theatre.

The rise of medium sized facilities such as these away from hospital precincts encourages a different approach to the design. As in this case, the owners were very passionate about bringing energy from nature into their fitout. They were seeking a calm and professional appearance.

The design has elements of warmth and detail often found in a home, while remaining practical and comfortable. The palette reinforces the custom timber slab which wraps the reception and is very fresh and clean throughout.

There is a serenity within which is reinforced by the staff and their approach to patient care.

Photography by Arrow Media Collective

A fitout for this new tech company in Brisbane’s highly sought after Annex Building on Creek Street was the perfect fit. Digital Infratech are all about supporting a diverse group of local businesses across multiple industries, including IT, Data, Health, Manufacturing, Demographics and  Property. Their new space needed to support this diversity in the groups who call it home. Sleek finishes, multiple meeting and breakout spaces, as well as separated working spaces were all worked through with the client and key stakeholders to achieve their goal.

The functionality of the various spaces, the different user groups and their hours of operation, all helped shape the design. Generous break-out spaces were placed throughout, giving staff the opportunity for a comfortable place to rest whenever they may be working. Our client also managed the construction of the project, and has resulted in an extremely high-quality finish, which they are proud to call home.

The process of planning and moving to our new home at 293 Queen Street, in the heritage-listed Custom Credit House, gave us a chance to pause, reflect and explore what was important to all the people who use our spaces – clients, visitors, staff members and friends alike.

In true Ellivo spirit, we knew that our space needed to have plenty of character and needed to support various activities from focused work to small and large meetings, as well as casual gatherings and more formal celebrations. The building itself informed the rhythm of the layout – breaking up different spaces, while still allowing them to be connected.

Moving to a new space allowed us to consider the changing office environment – we realised a need to create a flexible space which allows multiple people to work in different modes, and within separate areas. We identified the needs of the various users of our studio and tailored spaces to suit each of these. We created quieter meeting spaces away from work zones to allow for individual and small-group work, quiet phone seats, scrum areas for larger project team meetings and a long library and layout space along the central circulation spine – to inspire and foster team interaction. We also made sure that industry gatherings could be supported through the latest technology and design.

The Garden Bar is a great gathering space for us, as we embrace coming together again with each other and our community. We are excited to share our studio and watch as it grows over the coming years.

In years gone by families would take an outing to the airport in their Sunday best to see off a traveller, visit the viewing platform and see the swans swimming on the ponds at the airport. The viewing deck will now be home to Aspire Perth and offer their travellers an extension of their Western Australian experience.

The lounge focuses on the views to the tarmac with a variety of work and leisure spaces. Ambience and wellness flows through from the furnishings to the local food & beverage offerings. Indigenous artwork, local photography and a palette inspired by the landscape flows through the spaces that cater for all types of travellers.

Connectivity and flexibility is considered at all points throughout the lounge with the ultimate focus on ensuring the lounge is robust and adaptable to continue the Aspire reputation.

The Quarter at Wodonga integrates a mix of commercial, retail, dining and exclusive residential living units. A place to work, the Quarter offers light-filled contemporary office spaces in a high visibility, premium location right in the heart of town. As place to live, life at the Quarter embraces spacious indoor and outdoor living that brings people together combined with a range of uses and facilities that takes advantage of the location and the broader community.

Located in the highly sought after area of Kangaroo Point, the development sets out to showcase the heritage significance of the existing residence, Thornclyffe.  The tower form curves around the house, and makes use of large screen elements to create a backdrop to the heritage setting. The screens help to produce an aesthetic quality that blurs the line between background and foreground, inspired by the Bokeh photography style.

The development comprises of the existing heritage house and 20 luxury apartments, including two sub penthouses and two penthouse apartments that feature spacious, private rooftop gardens. The location and design of the tower captures a range of outlooks, from the Brisbane CBD, to stretches of the Brisbane River.  Each apartment maximises its unique view with open-plan layouts and generous glazing.

Sitting calmly within the bustling and diverse West Village, the new home for the professionals that are Skin Partners is a true reflection on their approach to their profession. The brief was not a typical allied health brief and started with some beautiful imagery of modern homes. With the client’s keen eye for aesthetics, the fitout was designed around the journey of the patients and of the professionals that use the spaces and brings together the sense of calm and the practicality of the spaces.

The tenancy is bathed in natural light by day and looks through an interesting façade and beyond to gardens and Boundary Street. With limited space and evergrowing needs balancing aesthetics and space, planning became a very detailed exercise with every millimetre utilised. We also carefully considered the privacy of patients balanced with sheer curtains to allow the light and connection to the gardens to shine.

Photography by Cieran Murphy

The design challenge – to create a new home for the B+W team of engineers – called us to explore and deliver on their expectations while making big changes to their way of working. Leading the way, the directors needed us to create a space for collaboration, transparency and open discussion.

In essence the spaces are all about conversation – breaking down all barriers to encourage new connections. The fabric of the building (structurally designed decades ago by the B+W team) has been opened up to act as the conversation starter with new clients. The columns have been revealed, the concrete slab exposed and the original structural soffit was made into a design feature. The fitout exposes the way the building was put together; acting as a reference to the company’s work, as well as adding visual interest to the spaces.

The space also needed to act as a home – for the business, for colleagues to get together, for clients, business connections and so on. The expressed industrial finishes of concrete, glass and steel have been balanced with luxurious soft furnishings and curtains to create a calm and welcoming environment. As a consequence, adjacent collaboration spaces are abuzz with meetings, coffees and lunches. As there was little built form to contend with, the large open breakout spaces have also allowed for staff gatherings to continue whilst still respecting social distancing requirements.

Watch as Tanya talks about our design journey with B+W

Photography by Mindi Cooke

Relocating within the same building to one-and-a-half floors immediately presented the challenge of delivering something quite unlike what they had before. With a focus on user comfort and wellness, the new space has an abundance of greenery and alternative work and meeting spaces.

Connection between teams was also a change for the users; with many moving to an open plan for the first time. This increased visibility and collaboration within the office. With a mixture of offices and open plan spaces, we introduced private phone booths, lounges and collaboration spaces which provides more choice to the users. Staff have an abundance of space and separation between teams where needed thanks to careful planning early on in the design.

The café is the central meeting spot of the office – allowing all staff to come together in one lunch area to share, collaborate and contribute to the office culture. The outcome has created a new union between staff, and assisted in building on their identity while reinforcing their professional nature.

Photography by Katherine O'Malley

One of the most challenging briefs is to design for an ever-changing workforce, which will peak and decline in varying stages over the term of the lease. That was exactly what ARTC requested as Inland Rail are delivering thirteen rail projects across Australia over the next seven years. It was very rewarding to work with them and watch their staff move from a cramped and unworkable space to a custom-designed, 95% agile environment with a variety of flexible working environments.

Working within a Green star building, and with high servicing and density requirements, the layout needed to support collaborative, agile working. This was achieved by designing various different types of workspaces such as phone booths, quiet rooms and casual chat areas – as well as more conventional office desk areas including standing areas.

We were involved heavily with the team managers during the design phase, which has helped to enable a successful transition to the new space, and has encouraged new connections to form naturally within teams since the project’s completion. The company values are deeply embedded within the space and their sense of community informed the layout and the new way of working. The palettes throughout reference the many remote communities, the earth that they touch and the robust materials of rail within a Queensland context.

Photography by Mindi Cooke Photography

The new Caesarstone showroom sits next to the state-of-the-art warehouse facility in Yatala; and is designed for prospective clients to appreciate the look and feel of the Caesarstone product. With the changing light of day, and during the night, the space functions as a retail and event space. The focus is always on the product, and the quality of the light is all-important for showing the true colours and textures of the stone. Users can touch and feel large pieces of stone, collect samples and view slabs in the warehouse. The space also utilises touch-screen technology to allow clients to visualise the stone in their own projects.

The project was designed to be as flexible as possible, to enable Caesarstone to change their stone panels whenever they wanted to showcase new products. For this reason, the palette is crisp and simple – making the stone the hero of the spaces. The various Caesarstone finishes flow through into boardrooms, amenities & staff areas to reinforce the pride that the Caesarstone team have for their brand.

Photos by Rix Ryan Photography

The refurbishment of the Master Builders Queensland offices was a big step for the board, and a huge commitment to change. From the start, we were aware of the association’s heritage, and its importance to the building community.

We went on a journey with the Master Builders team where we explored who they were, how they wanted to be presented to the general community, and what mattered the most to them. This helped to identify the essence of the project for us – the few key things that needed to hold true through the whole fitout. These qualities included the following: heritage, craftsmanship, high- quality of workmanship, functionality, connection, and modesty.

This exploration led us to look at the history of Queensland builders – their craft, and the materials they work with. We created subtle touches through the fitout showcasing traditional materials in their raw form, to remind visitors of the origins of Master Builders. These little details helped to identify different spaces as you move through the building and help to create the sense of a journey – you go from timber through copper, steel and brass details as you get further into the building.

Another key concern that came out in early workshops with the clients was the connectivity between different teams in the office. The old layout consisted a segmented cluster of small rooms, which meant that space was being used inefficiently, and many of the staff felt disconnected from the rest of the office and from the members. We were able to combine spaces and win enough previously-wasted area to allow for centralised break-out spaces, small team meeting rooms and spaces for people to congregate casually away from their work desks. Most of the lower ground floor was repurposed as a refreshing lunch area with the feeling of an outdoor café, complete with extensive end-of-trip facilities.

Photography by Mindi Cooke

The building’s form seeks to be bold, minimalistic and timeless – designed to be efficient for both buildability and capacity.

Natural light and landscape is incorporated without comprising floor yield, to ensure a sense of calmness and tranquillity, supportive of the building’s Medical purpose. The building’s open corner addresses the main entry, with well-shaded balconies wrapping the upper floor, allowing for a private retreat for workers without disconnection from the ground plane. Double height atriums open both to sky and planters below seeking to breathe life into the building – trees are able to grow through atrium voids which are decorated with seating plinths at ground level.

The chosen material palette draws inspiration from the surrounding industrial context. It plays with a juxtaposition of textures through raw materials such as brick, concrete, steel and plywood.

We owe the success of the project to the strong support of our open-minded client and supportive builder, who worked with us seamlessly throughout the project to ensure the quality and vision of the project was upheld.

Photography by Scott Burrows

Being designers we were excited by the prospect of testing our approach to the end user by starting with our staff and clients and personifying their needs and mapping out their possible journey with us.  We soon realised that our clients and staff were all very different and this led us to create spaces that could adapt.

We created private spaces where meetings can be confidential, small meeting spaces and public spaces where people can connect. We wrapped all of these in a series of movable curtains that change the privacy and use of the spaces. We can cocoon spaces and make them private, we can adjust lighting and become more of an entertaining space. The uses are varied and practical to take us through the next five or ten years that we may be here.

CLIENT | ELLIVO STATUS | COMPLETE (2018) SCALE | 350SQM PHOTOGRAPHY | MINDI COOKE PHOTOGRAPHER

This is a very young and vibrant business, bursting with enthusiasm that we were very excited by the first time we listened to their vision for their move to much larger premises.  Taking over a largely existing floor we had a modest budget with which to create their dream – the arrival to a law firm that was to be very AJ & Co.

From the lift doors opening on level 18 of Waterfront Place the foyer opens up through their arrival area to river and city views. There is no reception welcome, just a welcoming space, iPad sign in and then onto the lounge. Complete with bar and spaces to meet and relax, the space is to be shared and enjoyed.

Photography by Mindi Cooke

Nero Apartments offers a high-quality living environment within the rapidly evolving Newstead neighbourhood. Located within close proximity to the newly developed and growing Gasometer retail precinct, the development benefits from an abundance of recreation and amenity options for its residents. Positioned amongst a multitude of high-density apartment buildings, Nero seeks to stand out from the crowd and strives to offer something a little different. Residents are offered concierge type facilities to welcome them home, as well as apartment technologies more akin to hotel accommodation.

Nero, meaning black in Italian, inspires the dark personality of the building’s overall expression and resulting material palette. The external form of the building creates a homogeneous façade that conceals the apartment balconies behind it. This is a direct response to the due west orientation of the apartments, balancing solar protection without limiting access to light and views.

Clad in black tile, aluminium cladding and screening, the development has a sleek and timeless appearance. The folded gold screening to the lower podium levels has many roles; it provides solar protection towards the west while folding open towards the north, it provides privacy up to the balustrade height, creates foreground interest where there are no views, and forms a sculptural contribution to the streetscape.

Photography by Scott Burrows

Aerocare have a proud history in Australia and New Zealand as a leading independent ground handling company. They were keen for their surroundings to demonstrate to others what they do and their enthusiasm. It was critical to us to include their sense of fun and let this fitout become part of the brand. Together we took a creative approach to work spaces in conjunction with them and the developer (landlord).

Harnessing the concrete and blockwork surrounds, the natural light and their strong aeronautical links, this inspired the selections, colours and elements within. Passion and energy was delivered through installations, graffiti mural and the ‘escape’slide which connects the two levels and defines in the built form who they are.

Our brief was to create a space that will balance function, utilise natural light, deliver the best out of their modest budget and provide a welcoming environment for staff and patients alike. The clinic sits on the second floor of a large office building and is easily accessible with onsite parking. As you enter through the ground level, there is the option to choose either the lift or use the entrance to the grand staircase that leads to two different receptions on to the floor plate which is over 1000m2. The fitout is light filled and open-aired, balancing a refined yet young personality. Featuring pops of colour to retain branding, feature timber panelling and wall dividers for warmth and directing clientele, and feature lighting in the stairwell and reception all create a more homely feel for staff and patients.