Rialto, Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia

Workplace Principal while at Woods Bagot Australia

6,000 sqm (64,500 sqft) NLA

Completed 2014

Hall & Wilcox is a pre-eminent independent law firm with offices around Australia.

As another law firm adopting open plan in Australia, H&W were looking for a clever way to provide the half way point between cellular and open plan. In collaboration with James Calder I worked with the concept of a library environment; based on where the law students spent 7 years studying their trade. The concept developed into a compact sit to stand desk arrangement wrapped with a lattice of storage, planting and books. Critical to the success of the concept was to have small quiet rooms and collaboration caves wrapping around the core interspersed with formal acoustic meeting rooms. In a radical move the reception area was reduced in size and the saved area was placed in the more informal staff social and café areas which encourages clients to meet in different surroundings, breaking from the typical stuffy meeting rooms.