The project aims at creating a high-end, contemporary offering for smaller structures—for example, private family offices—which often sit within traditional, somewhat aged builds. The design aims at bringing transformative, desirable office spaces that accommodate modern working practices to the city-fringe market.
To preserve the grandeur of the South Yarra Coffee Palace, the volume of the building was carved away to produce a stepped mass, allowing it to recede from view at the high-street level.
The undulating forms that float above the historic building reflect a sustainable approach made possible through cutting edge structural engineering—where materials are significantly reduced down to the bare essentials. In this way, adaptive reuse combined with restrained addition results in a significant decrease in embodied carbon, and a visual balance of old and new.
Typical Office Floor Plan
Facade Detail
East Elevation (Claremont Street)
Interior View - Typical Office Level
Computationally Optimised Structural Beams