Project Overview

Duckbuild was presented with the difficult challenge of reinvigorating and breathing new life into this existing small office space – with a budget that some large corporations might blow on the reception desk alone! We mixed the owner’s love for colour with our interpretation of the word ‘Apical’ (from the latin ‘apex’) to produce an incendiary concoction that explodes from the entryway with a riot of colourful triangles, running up the walls onto glass and across the ceiling, playfully energising the space – without blowing up the budget.

Project Commissioner

APICAL INTERNATIONAL Pty. Ltd.

Project Creator

Duckbuild Architecture

Team

Simon Cookes, Director - Duckbuild
Philippa Hayden, Graduate - Duckbuild
Adam Markowitz, Graduate - Duckbuild

James Quinert, Builder - Norwood Constructions

Project Brief

The owner-occupier, Apical, is a peak body for various industrial products and organizations. This project was executed with a construction budget of under $100,000 – and included a lobby, creating a new tenancy, updating the stairwell and creating kitchen privacy, amongst other remedial works.

The client for this small commercial fit-out loves colour. This project can be considered a true meeting of minds between client and architect - where the flamboyant tendencies of each found in the other a champion. An impressive array of 13 colours are expressed in a triangular design language in varying levels of gloss, transparency, shape and surface angle.

Brought into the third dimension, this design language allows faceted forms to encase unsightly pipework, air-conditioners and other poor finishes found in the existing building. The triangulated facets and surface colours lead the visitor through the space, charging around corners into triangular mirrors which shatter views, challenging the visitor’s perception of space, extending the coloured triangles into infinity. Elsewhere the triangles running amok on the walls burst out in the form of a jewel-like, faceted triangular entry table to accept mail or a leaning elbow.

Project Need

At Duckbuild we believe that architecture does not have to be a ‘luxury’ which is purely in the domain of the wealthy or powerful. The luxury approach to architecture may lead to projects that are glitzy with million dollar price tags: but they don’t represent how the majority of us live and work. We believe that architecture is within reach of everyone, particularly smaller businesses – and that as designers we can use our skill and ingenuity to make the most of tight budgets. This lets us create successful and imaginative spaces that everyone can afford to inhabit.

The Apical office fit-out looks and feels energetic and exciting whilst maintaining a professional edge. It breathes new life into a tired and drab office space – which it achieves using the artful application of vivid colour, glass, films and facetted forms coupled with strategic LED lighting. It has brought to life a working environment that, given the budget, could have been very prosaic in different hands. It’s amazing what a touch of paint can do!

Design Challenge

Delivering a project on a budget is a challenge for any designer. But delivering something that we as designers are proud of and excited about on a budget that really only had scope for some paint and perhaps new carpet challenged our abilities to the extreme. More so, we would argue, than working out which expensive stone to pick on a million dollar fit-out.

We had to establish clear cost controls, as well as work closely with builder and client to establish the brief, and what was possible. “A bit of paint and plasterboard”, we were told – and that’s exactly what we did. The project also demanded a professional edge to impress corporate guests, so coupled with our colourful reinvigoration was the very specific and intentional expenditure of the limited budget on finer items – such as full-height frameless glass in the lobby/tenancy area, which also serve to allow diffuse natural light.

Sustainability.

The project is a retrofit of an ageing existing building in Richmond, and brings life to an old space that might in other circumstances be simply demolished without thought to how the existing can simply be reimagined. Areas have been zoned and insulated to improve energy efficiency within spaces, and new light fittings are all high-efficiency LEDs. Full-height glazing between the lobby and the main tenancy allows natural light into the tenancy space to reduce reliance on artificial lighting.

Interior Design - Corporate

This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes, aesthetic presentation and functionality. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.  

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