PODS IN THE SKY

Macquarie Bank

(One of Australia’s biggest investment banks)

This office design in Sydney,Australia was created by three architecture practices in three years and is a true example of high modern design. As designers, it is important to create a work environment that is pleasing to work in. According to the article I read this space captured exactly that.  Because this space exemplifies modern working practices, it overwhelmingly popular with the people who use it.

'The whole space has been designed around the concept of activity-based working, which was developed by Dutch consultancy Veldhoen. Simply put it means rather than sitting at the same desk in the same working environment each day, workers move around the office, choosing the right environment for the kind of work they’re doing, be it individual or group work, or a meeting.'

Each floor and each pod has its own aesthetic to encourages workers to move around.  Because this is a bank privacy is a major issue and you would think that this solution would not be the best idea when it comes to privacy.  But,Wilkinson states that, ‘When you’re in the meeting rooms, you can’t actually see what’s on anybody’s screen,’ he says.‘Clients can get into the atrium and they can see around the building, but they don’t have free access. That’s been the excitement about the space: that everyone can see everyone else, so there’s this buzz of action all the time.’

For more information on how this space was created, I encourage you to read this article:
http://www.worldinteriordesignnetwork.com/interior_design_projects/macquarie_bank_sydney/