Image Credit : Photographer – Lisbeth Grosmann Photography
Project Overview
As part of the long-term strategic plan to provide for a growing population, the Victorian government has identified Ringwood as a key Metropolitan Activity Centre. This designation of the eastern suburb and transport hub is part of a masterplan decentralising the city from the CBD, providing satellite locations for high density housing, work and services.
In this context a new office tower at 110 Maroondah Highway, known as EastCo and tenanted by the Victorian Department of Transport and VicRoads, represents a tangible step in delivering on that vision. Designed by Fender Katsalidis and built by Maben, the site boasts high quality materiality and a thoughtfully executed interior by Peck Von Hartel. The building's three distinctive layers harmonise through a refined palette of warm elements, featuring bronze cladding, glass and concrete.
Wayfinding design plays a critical role in setting the standard for this emerging urban centre. As the first building in Ringwood to reach 10 storeys, EastCo occupies a strategic position between the Ringwood Train Station, Bus Interchange, Civic Square, Council Offices, Library, and Eastland Shopping Centre – marking it as a flagship for future workplace developments within the Metropolitan Activity Centre.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Director - Angela Stephens
Lead Designer – Tony Gilevski
Wayfinding Strategist – Lucy Martin
Designer – Natalia Biedron-Jarosz, Paloma Leon Ravest, Rae Fairbairn
Industrial Designer – Drew Hernando
Design Manager – Kerri Quigley, Niels Heyvaert
Architect – FK
Builder – Maben
Interior Designer – Peck Von Hartel
Project Manager – Turner & Townsend
Signage Contractor – Bentleigh Group
Photographer – Lisbeth Grosmann Photography
Project Brief
EastCo is a suburban office development purpose-built for the Victorian Department of Transport, featuring new office spaces and a VicRoads service centre. The site was strategically chosen for its accessibility to staff based outside the CBD, its excellent public transport links, and its close proximity to local amenities.
The fit-out was bespoke, with the exterior designed to reflect a high-quality, professional environment. The lobby and shared areas were designed to feel thoughtful and uplifting, inviting without feeling excessive or pretentious.
The wayfinding brief responded to the architectural concept, favouring familiar, textured materials to create a warm and approachable atmosphere. The lobby avoids the polished corporate feel of the CBD, instead offering a grounded, human-scale experience that balances practicality with inspiration. The wayfinding system is fully integrated and responsive to the architecture, featuring extruded and recessed forms that echo the building’s geometric language.
In the basement, the end-of-trip facilities allowed for a bolder design approach. Set against raw finishes, vibrant and energetic graphics bring the space to life, creating an engaging, energised environment that reflects the spirit of active commuting.
Project Innovation/Need
Drawing inspiration from the building’s distinct and dynamic contours, the innovative wayfinding concept incorporates layered forms and elements, echoing the three tiers of the façade. The design uses a bold customised typographic design, softened in the lobby and tower by incorporating curved, soft accents, and an architecturally-inspired colour palette of warm, natural materials and tones.
The alignment of materials to create seamless wayfinding necessitated innovative manufacturing approaches, most notably, the use of bespoke glass-reinforced concrete numerals designed to align precisely with the surrounding materials.
In the basement, environmental graphics for the end-of-trip facilities introduce bold pops of vibrant yellow, built around the idea of "transitioning from point A to B." Inspired by road markings, the building’s geometry, and the nearby train station, these expressive murals energise the space and connect it to the broader context of movement and place.
The outcome is a bold and succinct contemporary visual language on a human scale, carefully integrated with the environment to create a sense of quality without being ostentatious.
Design Challenge
The primary design challenge of the project was creating a benchmark for relatable and casual yet professional aesthetics, without veering into a premium, glossy ambience.
The key to unlocking this outcome was delivering bespoke signage, clearly unique and of high quality, but with an accessible and relatable simplicity that became a natural extension of the building.
Integration with the environment was a cornerstone in delivering on this promise. Designs were carefully aligned with architectural datums and details, while colours and materiality respond to the character of each specific location.
Close collaboration with the architectural, building and manufacturing teams was critical in achieving the required level of detail. Ensuring surfaces were properly prepared in anticipation of the wayfinding overlay, especially when these were recessed into structural columns, required details to be tracked and cross-checked from the start of the project until the very end.
Sustainability
Supporting Melbourne’s sustainability goals was a key priority for this project. Encouraging active transport by making it both practical and appealing was central to the brief, helping to reduce travel-related emissions.
Sustainable design choices were reflected in the use of environmentally conscious materials, including eco-friendly timbers and low-impact finishes, as well as energy-efficient lighting throughout.
However, the most significant sustainability measure was a design approach focused on longevity. Wayfinding elements were conceived as permanent, integrated components of the building, designed to endure tenant changes and require updates only when the broader interior or exterior undergoes renewal. This approach reduces waste while reinforcing a cohesive, lasting design language.
Wayfinding
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the ways people orient themselves in physical space, and navigate from place to place. Consideration given to signage and other graphic communication, clues in the building's spatial grammar, logical space planning, audible communication, tactile elements and provision for special-needs users.
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