The ATO has leased two new buildings in Civic to consolidate a number of their locations in Canberra and meet their stated objectives. Woodhead was commissioned for the interior design and workplace planning for 4,200 staff as an integrated interior design working with the base building architects.
Designed to accommodate future change; the planning is robust and flexible, using urban planning principles that allow staff to move through the office spaces easily and comfortably. Notions of streets, lanes, interconnections and town squares drive the language and forms of the overall design, encouraging communication and interaction.
Open workspaces are broken by communal ‘parks’ creating an opportunity to meet informally in a green-scaped casual environment with timber urban seating.
The concept of ‘leaves’ and their changing colours, reflecting Canberra’s four distinct seasons, forms a basis for the graphics and colour palette, with overlaid signage and way-finding enabling staff to easily identify areas.
The building configuration has a central core and four glazed facades allowing abundant natural light. The interior design approach maximises access to natural light and views providing an open plan environment.
The concept uses the built environment to encourage interaction within the ATO by fostering productivity through creative planning techniques and intelligent design solutions.
Project Team:
The interior design for the ATO also combined a commission for the environmental graphics and a customised graphics for the ‘Galleria’ space.
The environmental graphic concept was based on leaves and the climatic seasonal changes of Canberra, from rich Autumn tones, to the fresh colours of Spring. Graphics and colour palettes were established around the themes of Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.
These variations filtered up through the buildings and across the floors with scattered complimentary hues of colour. Materials were selected to reflect these changes, and signage and wayfinding overlay the environment to enable quick identification of spaces and areas.
The Galleria display draws on the ATO’s Indigenous building names and themes to tell multi-layered stories using legends, metaphor, symbols, art and artefacts from the Ngambri people: Ngabra and Kembery – meeting place; Amungula – rivers and mountains.
The central concept of the Galleria is a sense of harmony; harmony within the ATO, and harmony between the ATO and the various Australian communities.
