Russell McVeagh
In a bold move for the legal field Russell McVeagh elected to move to an open-plan workplace. This significant shift provided challenges on many levels to ensure a productive and flexible space. The open plan layout is organic in its flow to counter any semblance of a repetitive bench layout commonly found in open-plan environments.
The open plan layout cleverly utilises all available real estate by placing seating and storage in the window bays, whilst hugging the core with small VC and quiet rooms. The centre piece is the arrival ‘hub’ over two floors connected by a helical stair. A quiet work hub on L27 is anchored by a library, while the L26 social hub is anchored by a large kitchenette.
The project had key design language – curved built form and the restrained material palette. To create a dynamic open-plan arrangement the design uses 120-degree workstations offset against curved walls to help guide you through the space. The curved rooms help create the sense of a seamless transition from space to space.
The palette was deliberately selected to enhance natural light across the workspace. A mixture of reflective and absorbent surfaces adds soft texture to hub spaces whilst retaining a high quality, timeless feel. The timber, a contemporary take on the old legal office, twists the mahogany heritage and transforms it into a fresh version using a modest timber in a refined fashion. The use of sweeping curves and crisp white surfaces deliberately contrasts the timber. A chevron pattern is used on the hub floor, cutting a modest stone into something beautiful. Meeting pods clad in seamless timber with rebated door frames are designed to declutter the visual noise.
