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21
WorkplaceProject
Lovingly dubbed ‘The Bunker,’
this shared workplace in
Melbourne was designed
by one of its tenants –
Clare Cousins Architects.
words MARCUS BAUMGART photography LISBETH GROSMANN
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Project
Clare Cousins Architects’ folio of work is diverse, but it is the
studio’s extensive residential work that has allowed it to master a
certain attention to detail. This attention to detail has been carried
through to the refurbishment and fitout of the Blackwood Street
Bunker, the firm’s new shared studio premises in North Melbourne.
“The Bunker,” as it has been dubbed, is an exercise in tailoring the
design of a workspace to house two organizations, and acknowl
-
edging their specific work cultures in the creation of an aesthetically
consistent and harmonious whole.
The offices are housed in a building that only an architect could
love, and one that was so well disguised that perhaps only an
architect could have seen its potential. A somewhat tentative love
poem to concrete brutalism, the building was coated in a bilious
custard-coloured render and had an internal rabbit warren of
medical suites subsisting off the nearby Royal Melbourne Hospital.
The building could have easily fallen victim to the wrecking ball,
especially given its outsized neighbours and the redevelopment
potential of the site. However, this was not to be and the building was
saved and given a new purpose.
Now home to the architects, who share it with a construction
company (on the same level) and a graphic design studio (on the
lower level), the building has been stripped of its render. This
revealed a rather lovely raw concrete along with traces of painted
signage across the facade. The architecture firm’s half of the upper
floor is on the northern side, and one approaches the studio via an
echoing concrete stairwell, the walls of which are painted in a rich
mid-blue. This bare-bones approach to the materiality of the building
is just a taste of things to come.
Entering the studio through a glazed door, the visitor is
presented with a vista characterized by a clean and direct approach
to materials. Plywood dominates (a material explored in other
projects by Clare Cousins Architects), and both walls and joinery are
finished in this material. The designer’s impact on the shell of the
building has been minimal and strategic, involving the removal of a
section of internal wall that previously divided the floor into two
disconnected tenancies. This was accompanied by the installation of
a north-facing glazed wall that spills light into the construction
company’s half of the floor.
A generous, tiled kitchen with an enormous dining table and an
oh-so-necessary espresso machine forms the linchpin between the
architecture firm and the construction company. The kitchen, which
is easily accessible from both tenancies, provides an informal
gathering space and encourages interaction between all employees.
The benefits to both businesses of this social cross-pollination are
intangible, but important nonetheless.
The two distinct office spaces radiate out the central kitchen
and the design of each workplace is uniquely tailored to its tenant’s
particular work culture. On the one hand, the architecture studio is a
1_ THE BUNKER HOUSES TWO
COMPANIES ON THE UPPER
LEVEL. ON ENTERING THE
BUILDING COMPANY'S SIDE
OF THE OFFICE, VISITORS ARE
GREETED WITH A PALETTE
OF CONCRETE AND PLYWOOD.
2_ THE OFFICES ARE HOUSED
IN A CONCRETE BRUTALIST
BUILDING THAT “ONLY AN
ARCHITECT COULD LOVE.”
3_ THE BUILDING COMPANY’S
OFFICE FEATURES
PARTITIONS MADE FROM
CONCRETE BLOCKS.
4_ REFLECTING ITS WORK
CULTURE, THE BUILDING
COMPANY’S OFFICE IS
STRUCTURED AND LAYERED.
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4
Workplace
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WorkplaceProject
5_ THE COMMUNAL KITCHEN
ON THE UPPER LEVEL
FEATURES AN ENORMOUS
DINING TABLE WITH A MAPLE
TABLETOP ON CONCRETE
PIPE LEGS.
6_ LIKE THE KITCHEN, THE
BALCONY IS SHARED BY BOTH
TENANCIES, ENCOURAGING
SOCIAL INTERACTION
BETWEEN ALL EMPLOYEES.
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WorkplaceProject
single, open-plan space, just big enough for the team of eight profes-
sionals to operate in close, but not cramped, proximity. Surrounded
by half-height joinery units that contain the space, this one creative
sandpit is where all the magic happens. An adjacent open-plan
meeting room is available for group discussions, and a second
closed meeting room affords privacy for different kinds of exchange.
This is a classic studio, designed to reflect the management style of
the one-director practice: open, flat-structured, and all-in-together.
On the other hand, the design of the construction company’s
office reflects the very different, and more layered, structure of that
business. Open-plan work areas sit alongside the directors’
individual glazed offices, and the office for the finance and estimating
team is given a different, more contained character somewhere
between open- and closed-plan. A discrete meeting room attached
to the finance area is available for internal administrative meetings,
while the front-of-house and reception area are each given a
distinctive flavour. While construction companies often use their
offices to showcase their ability to deliver polished and “slick” design
with expensive finishes and fine detail, in this case a refreshingly
direct and almost industrial materiality is on display. In addition to
the extensive use of plywood and glazed partitions, concrete blocks
have been used to create a screen around a meeting table, a feature
that resonates well with the base building.
Despite the very different cultures that each of the fitouts
support, both offices are filled with light and are airy and clean-cut
in their presentation. This forms a distinct contrast to the heavy
weight of the host building as seen from the street, and the contrast
between expectation and reality is invigorating.
Next year marks the tenth year of operation for Clare Cousins
Architects and it is fitting that this compact studio of eight practi
-
tioners will enter its second decade of practice in a bespoke setting.
This confident interior is well crafted, carefully considered and
further evidence of a practice that has much to offer but nothing
to prove. A
project
Blackwood Street Bunker
22–28 Blackwood Street
North Melbourne Vic 3051
design practice
Clare Cousins Architects
28 Blackwood Street
North Melbourne Vic 3051
+61 3 9329 2888
clarecousins.com.au
project team
Clare Cousins, Dita Beluli,
Jacky Chan, Oliver Duff, Jessie
Fowler, Catherine Parkinson,
Felicity Wabitsch, Tara Ward
time schedule
Design, documentation:
4 months
Construction: 6 months
builder
Maben Group
landscaping
Eckersley Garden Architecture
render removal
Don Giampa
products
walls and ceilings
Hoop pine ply walls, joinery
and ceiling tiles. New concrete
blockwork, unfinished.
Existing concrete
blockwork, painted.
windows
Powdercoated aluminium
windows.
doors
Custom-made steel-framed
doors to offices and meeting
rooms.
flooring
Existing concrete slab,
polished.
lighting
Comet spotlight and Beama
Surface Eye Baby downlight,
both from Masson for Light.
furniture
Vintage Børge Mogensen
Spanish Chair. Van sofa from
Jardan. A-joint trestle tables
(with marble tabletops)
by Henry Wilson. Bronte
tables from Eco Outdoor.
Custom-made glass coffee
table with cast concrete
legs. Custom-made hoop
pine joinery.
kitchen
Ceramic wall tiles from Classic
Ceramics. Stainless steel
countertops. Solid maple table
top on concrete pipe legs.
bathroom
Astra Walker tapware from
Mary Noall. Ceramic wall
tiles from Classic Ceramics.
heating/cooling
External vertical sunscreen
blinds. Extensive
cross-ventilation from
recently installed operable
doors and windows.
roofing
Existing roofing with
new insulation.
external elements
New timber decking.
other
Dion Horstmans sculpture
in boardroom. Rug from
Loom Rugs. Custom-made
hoop pine joinery.
1 Entry
2 Meeting room
3 Balcony
4 Staff kitchen
5 Bathroom
6 Storage room
7 Office
8 Reception
9 Shower
BLACKWOOD STREET BUNKER UPPER FLOOR PLAN 1:4◊◊
◊ 2.5 5 m
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2
4
3
2
2
8
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5 5
9
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7_ PLYWOOD WALLS, CEILING
AND JOINERY SURROUND
THE ARCHITECTURE STUDIO’S
MEETING SPACE.
8_ THE ARCHITECTURE STUDIO
IS A SPACE JUST THE RIGHT
SIZE FOR THE TEAM OF EIGHT
WHO WORK TOGETHER CLOSELY.
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7
Clare Cousins
Architects’ office
Construction
company’s office
