Project Overview

Artillery was appointed to work with Hospira to establish a detailed accommodation brief for a new workplace that would see staff from 3 separate locations come together ‘under one roof’. A relatively new brand in the Australian market, Hospira saw the opportunity to use the project to increase brand presence and awareness, not only externally but amongst their own employees who were to some degree were operating in silos.

Project Commissioner

Hospira Australia

Project Creator

Artillery Interior Architecture

Team

Artillery's design team, led by Sonja Duric and Claudette Leeming, consisted of Ian Piggott, Nick Leong, Carla Franzo, and Alicia Marshall.

Project Brief

In the process of gaining greater understanding of Hospira’s vision, values and culture, Hospira’s trademark of Advancing Wellness TM stood out as symbolising both what the business offers their customers, but also a desirable outcome for the new workplace. The workplace was to provide a ‘formula for wellness’ and draw Hospira employees together, creating a sense of ‘being a part of something big’.
The open work area has a more ‘human’ order, and takes full advantage of Schiavello’s new Climate workstation system that enables individual work positions to snake through the space, and be changed at a moment’s notice as the business requires. Circulation around the work area has been deliberately directed to occur within the banks, under the pergola like hoop pine framing that connects storage banks with the meeting rooms.
Walking through Hospira’s new workplace you can be left with no doubt that they are in the business of wellness. It is not just the application of Hospira’s wellness imagery on the sails that veil the meeting areas, nor the abundance of plants and natural colour and material palette; it is an overall impression of an workplace that is connected to its business philosophy and lives and breathes its commitment to Advancing Wellness TM

Project Innovation / Need

In a competitive market place most modern businesses strive to create a workplace that supports attraction and retention of quality staff, fosters collaboration and interaction, and maximises the benefits of bringing minds together to drive business innovation and advantage. This is not new or unique. What took this project further was a client whose brand proposition is to advance wellness – what better place to start than by creating a work environment that embodies this principle. When coupled with the company’s entrepreneurial spirit, the foundations for the new workplace generated immediate passion and enthusiasm within the project team.

Design Challenge

Coming from a very traditional cellular environment fractured both by location and across multiple floors, an early and ‘brave’ decision was made to eliminate all offices, from the President down. Whilst this is becoming more common practice, it was a big leap for Hospira whose employees work with teams across Asia Pacific and spend large amounts of the day on the phone and in teleconferences.
Artillery was faced with Hospira’s initial hesitation of an entirely open-plan workplace and concern for large amounts of phone calls and teleconferences. This was addressed by the provision of a higher than typical number of small meeting spaces, acoustically designed to accommodate these types of meetings. Other areas to take conversations away from the desk occur around the perimeter with seating incorporated into storage, across standing height storage banks and clusters of high backed lounges that break-up the open plan.

Sustainability

Early design concepts explored notions of wellness, with the natural environment universally seen as best example of ‘spatial wellness’. This drove the desire to create a work environment that drew its cues from the outdoors and nature, more than from its CBD location. The site selection of Levels 2 and 3 at 500 Collins Street, with a 5 star Green Star rating for design, and an expansive Collins Street outdoor deck, immediately supported this concept. The planning of the interior revolves around large areas of flexible open plan workspace (the river) that is bounded by the ‘banks’ of storage, collaboration and quiet space.

Interior Design - Corporate

This award recognises building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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