Project Description

The folding ‘ground’ extends across the ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ spaces as seats, plinths, desks, and workbenches – the primary method of marking the various destinations and work types. Brisbane riverstone is highlighted at key thresholds. Gardens sit along the edges and amongst this terrain to ensure settings are casual, healthy and invigorating while suggesting the ‘outside’ extends deeply into the floorplate. The garden rooms are drawn from archetypes of colonial Queensland verandah spaces and reinforce the potency of liminal space, amplifying the moment between inside and out. This mixed-mode garden verandah spaces enable flexible work settings with direct access to the natural environment -fresh air and the smell and sounds of the City.

The significant formal device – the rachis (a flowering spine) – is constructed over and around the folding ground – a sort of horticultural structure designed to orchestrate arrival, circulation and use patterns. It is singular in identity, though tuned to suit various uses, including landscape trellis, kitchen, library shelving, arrival vestibule, stores, and meeting spaces. It extends through the entire floor plate, inside and out, adding to the ambiguity and delight of the garden setting.

Construction of the rachis is that of a carpenter-built shed, with black stained framing, bracketed foundations, and half checked and bolted joints to allow re-use. Where required, rooms and alcoves are an interior lining to the expressed frame, stained to match on the exterior and with individual colourways within, having been drawn from the flora palette of this piece of Country.

The studio is located over two levels, with the range of workplace and engagement settings distributed throughout to maximise movement between floors. People move to the preferred work or social space, whether it be kitchen, library, model making, material samples, and generic workspace that is made distinct by its connection to the outdoors and thus experience.