Image Credit : Daniela Fulford Photography
Project Overview
In the north Melbourne suburb of Donnybrook lies Peppercorn Hill Estate, developed by Dennis Family Corporation (DFC). At its center is Peppercorn Hill Sales Centre (Peppercorn SC), a spacious, airy, purpose-built, and versatile building that acts as the heart of Peppercorn’s community, setting new standards in sales center innovation and design.
DFC’s vision for the estate focused on providing a range of amenities to the many families attracted to its lifestyle promise, so it was imperative that Peppercorn SC’s internal design reflected and supported that objective. Small wonder that DFC entrusted renowned sales office fit-out specialists Diva Works to craft a sales centre that achieved their aims.
Peppercorn SC is nothing short of stunning.
Its striking yet welcoming interior encourages visitors to linger and engage, reflecting the warmth of the Peppercorn Hill community. Whether enjoying coffee at the café, letting the imagination run riot whilst imagining a dream home inspired by the new home trend displays in the Experience and Design Centre, or watching the kids play happily on the giant jumping pillow, Peppercorn SC is already a source of pride for Peppercorn Hill; a popular meeting point for new home buyers, residents and visitors alike.
Diva Works ' deliberately thoughtful interior design is central to its success – and what will ensure its longevity. The quality and craftsmanship they have so beautifully integrated into the Peppercorn SC space deliver on every opportunity to support the DFC vision to provide lasting amenities and cultivate meaningful community engagement.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Fit Out: DCSE International
Printed and 3D Graphics: The Image Box
Lightbox graphics: Muromatic
AV Digital Solutions: Screenccom
Stone: Nexus Stone
Painting: Sublime Painting
SPM: Modular Building Design and Construction
Project Brief
Imagine you’ve been magically teleported into Peppercorn SC. You don’t know where you are and look around for clues.
Natural light streams through huge floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating multiple welcoming entranceways through the subtly curved reception space.
Stone elements, plants, and greenery create a natural feel. Stunning paintings of river red gums and earthy tones, an atmosphere of calm.
Notices about community events catch your eye. Design concepts, textures, and colours fill the Experience Centre. Outside, kids jump on a giant pillow next to a really cool-looking café. What is this place?
First-time visitors are always amazed by the Peppercorn SC experience; it’s so different from what they’d expected. That’s because the fit-out of purpose-built Peppercorn SC leverages design as a selling tool to achieve the DFC vision. Every aspect of Diva Works’ stunning design is deliberately low-key on developer hype, the polar opposite of traditional estate office models centered on immediate, high-powered sales messages.
Here is an organic, welcoming environment where customers drive sales journeys entirely at their own speed. Peppercorn SC’s customer-first design is successful because it recognizes that sales offices can be daunting, especially for young home buyers.
Importantly, Peppercorn SC fulfills the DFC brief because it has a life and purpose that will continue far beyond the business of land sales. It’s a ‘Meet you at Peppercorn!’ community hub where kids can play, adults relax, and home plans be visualized.
Peppercorn SC is a ‘sales center’ reimagined.
Project Need
Unlike standard sales offices, Peppercorn SC is a display home in miniature. Its outstanding interior design is a subtle sales tool beautifully reflecting life on the estate. Quality components throughout create a deliberately subtle but welcoming profile that exudes calm, ensuring every visitor comes away imagining, ‘What if…?’
Diva Works’ first-class fit-out attracts a wide audience to Peppercorn SC. Strategic inclusion of a full-service, independent coffee shop, and spacious indoor/outdoor kids’ play areas has created a sales center that welcomes passers-by, tradies, school-run mums, and locals as warmly as it does families excited about their new home-to-be at Peppercorn Hill Estate.
The novel inclusion of the Experience Centre has already delivered new outcomes. This virtual Aladdin’s cave of ideas, textures, colors, and concepts is open to anyone interested in making their house a home – not only potential clients. Builders love that it acts as an ‘educator’ – of everything from spatial awareness to room layout and décor – enabling their clients to articulate better what their family’s new home needs to provide. Clients love the Experience Centre, too, because it helps them vividly imagine a family home to be enjoyed for generations to come.
All these factors are important because they contribute to an amenity that far exceeds facilitating the sale of a parcel of land by embracing the entire home ownership journey. Importantly, Peppercorn SC’s longevity will directly impact the long-term success of Peppercorn Hill Estate as a happy, thriving community.
Design Challenge
It was imperative that Peppercorn SC be designed to grow organically as new estate precincts—such as Woodlands and Eastside—come onto the market.
Also challenging for the design team was the successful inclusion of a whole host of features and elements while delivering a light and spacious feel. Elements included:
• A welcoming entrance area
• A spacious reception area
• An extensive Experience Centre
• A fully functional café
• Generous inside and outside children’s play areas
• Two fully equipped meeting rooms to cater for:
o Clients desiring privacy
o Developer/contractor meetings
• Indoor and outdoor children’s play spaces
• Toilet facilities
• A workspace for staff or brokers.
Particularly complex design challenges included Peppercorn SC’s four frontages, which required a well-thought-out floorplan to ensure center users always experienced a ‘front door feel’ no matter their direction of approach.
Every opportunity was taken to minimize disruption to the visual flow of the space. For example, disguising ducted aircon vents by integrating them into joinery. Small detail, big improvement in look and practicality.
DFC was delighted with the final design. Key to its success was Diva Works remaining true to its guiding principle: always keep mandatory sales needs in sight yet position ‘the dream’ as the constant north star. Supporting this ethos involved continuous assessment of each design feature, always asking, ‘Will this concept serve the project’s overall aim?’
Sustainability
Diva Works is designed for the long term, opting for a structurally sound modern solution featuring in-built appeal and longevity.
Other examples of their strong sustainability focus include:
• Prioritising design detail to minimize any risk of re-doing any design aspect, saving time, materials and precious resources
• Use of low VOC paint throughout the sales center
• Abundant plant life to promote a healthy work environment
• Lowering of carbon footprint by using materials as close to the source as possible and being mindful of using finishes and materials available from a single supplier
• Use of expert consultants to optimize heating and cooling efficiencies through the sales center
• Installation of additional sustainable insulation
• Choice of carpet featuring backing with a high percentage of recycled bottles
• Graphics installed on easy-to-change-out materials, reducing materials and labor waste
• Gifting of recycled branded coffee cups to café to encourage customers to support sustainability
• Transition of the center to a fully digital format for all collateral, including price lists and contracts
• Replacement of all paper-based marketing material with touch-screen availability
• LED lights to illuminate lightboxes featured low power consumption.
Inclusivity as a form of sustainability was also important to the Diva Works design. For example, there is easy access for parents with prams and disabled access ramps available to any user. Diva Works also made provision for quieter and more enclosed spaces to cater to neuro-diverse visitors.
Interior Design - Sales Center
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, flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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