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18 December 2024
Patricia Bondin
Principal
Architectus | Designed to deconstruct: interiors taking flexibility to the next level

Designed to deconstruct:
interiors taking flexibility to the next level

What can B-grade office buildings teach hotels, shops and restaurants about smarter fit outs? Plenty, if you unpick some of the common mistakes these commercial properties have made over the decades.

In these ‘lazy’ city buildings we’ve seen an endless cycle of fit outs. As old tenants move on, so does their fit out – straight into landfill. The new tenant comes in to make their mark, and we’re right back where we started.

A culture of churn

The Make Good Australia guide by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors points out that average lease terms for offices are typically five years or less. The implications?

About 20% of office fit outs are churned, demolished and refitted annually. In Australia, this represents up to five million square metres of office space per year.

With their uniquely short leases, hospitality and retail tenants fall into the same frustrating pattern, with the interior changeover potentially happening at an even greater rate.

Where do we go from here? The future of interior architecture, whatever the sector, has to involve bold reform in the face of a drastically changing climate.

Architectus | Designed to deconstruct: interiors taking flexibility to the next level

The future is flexible

Our Interior Architecture team is proposing solutions that challenge the status quo, designing spaces for maximum flexibility and with limited materials. That way, our interior spaces can adapt to changing uses without generating all that waste.

Maybe they could even become a ‘flat-packed library of elements’ stored until they’re needed elsewhere, or dismantled and sold for other purposes. It’s a win on all fronts.

With the ever-present ‘what’s next’ culture facing hospitality and retail tenants, designing for adaptation and reinvention is the way to go.

So why haven’t we seen uptake in the industry?

For starters, we need to bring clients and builders along with us. For example, construction methodologies need to evolve from applied materiality with fixed solutions to modular elements that can clip, click and lock together.

Architectus | Designed to deconstruct: interiors taking flexibility to the next level

Innovative interiors

Recently our interiors team completed Macquarie Group’s world-class headquarters (above), where up to 75% of the typical floor plan is flexible.

How did we achieve that? By working with client and collaborators to on an innovative planning methodology across the campus that adapts to varying geometries as well as the working needs of teams.

There are so many exciting opportunities to change the paradigm, sharing and applying what we learn across sectors as we continue to design for greater flexibility, adaptability and sustainability.

 

Patricia Bondin is a Principal and National Design Leader for Interior Architecture at Architectus. A passionate advocate for shifting industry thinking, she has presented on this topic at both SXSW and WORKTECH and pushes our design teams to innovate every day.

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