Designed by Byron Bay-based architectural agency Occupy Studio and positioned within the Byron Bay Arts & Trade Property, the Rowie HQ encompasses a easy materials palette that celebrates collaborative and significant interactions. Gentle-filled, it supplies a relaxing house that embraces the easy qualities of the style model Rowie the Label.
With solely three months from inception to completion, the design and fitout required a fast turnaround and shut collaboration with the builders, Morada Construct, Kick Constructing and native fabricators. “We needed to be fast on our toes,” says Occupy Studio director Scott Wilson. “It gave the design course of and the undertaking plenty of parameters … we had to make use of supplies that had been instantly out there available.”
Occupy Studio was already acquainted with the architectural language of the Richards & Spence-designed Banksia Drive constructing – modern, dark-grey concrete shells, with two home windows on the street-facing frontage. “As a result of there was just one supply of pure gentle, it was fairly darkish, chilly and echoey,” Wilson continues. “A key a part of the design was so as to add additional pure gentle by skylights in direction of the again of the tenancy, in addition to to permit the sunshine from the home windows to move unobstructed by the tenancy.”
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Located above the design workspace, the skylights had been sheathed to stop direct daylight from interfering with the technical drawings and patterns. As an alternative, they had been prolonged down and wrapped in material made by the Rowie workforce, making a gentle, subtle gentle. The electricians fitted hid LED lights so even on a gray day or late into the evenings, the skylights glow like a big lantern.
Within the entrance zone, rice-paper-like fibreglass sheets inside off-white-painted pine framing had been chosen for his or her availability and ease. The materiality creates a lantern-like assembly room, dividing the house with out blocking the sunshine from the entrance home windows. Alongside the polished concrete flooring, minimalist stainless-steel desks and overhead lamps subtly replicate the gentle glow whereas enhancing the calm, contemplative ambiance.
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On the coronary heart of the undertaking, the kitchen is orbited by the working areas. A big rustic wood desk – fastidiously chosen in collaboration with stylist Kimberley Wiedermann – welcomes workers to share a cup of tea or spark casual conversations. Persevering with the natural tactility, and in an opportune design transfer, the Rowie garments racks function privateness dividers for the workforce to vanish behind when wanted.
“The entire tenancy is consistently full of materials and garments on racks, and all of those lovely clothes in manufacturing,” concludes Wilson. “It was intentional that the fitout could be a peaceful backdrop for all of that color and life.”
With its juxtaposition of masculine industrial vitality with gentle female tactility, the Rowie HQ by Occupy Studio fosters a holistic atmosphere distinct to the model, all whereas channelling collaboration and the revolutionary design of the Banksia Drive locality.
