2 of 4 projects
AMP Capital
A VILLAGE
IN THE SKY
QUAY QUARTER — AMP CAPITAL
Designed by 3XN, the new AMP Quay Quarter tower will be a game changer in terms of commercial office buildings. This “village in the sky” centres on human needs and optimises usable space, wellbeing and state of the art technology. The space selected to house the new iteration of the Quay Quarter Sydney display suite was an 80sqm office space on Level 25 of the original heritage AMP office tower at 33 Alfred Street.
“The brand identity is represented seamlessly and cleverly throughout the space. Each delicate detail within the room allows the user to create their own tailored approach, leaving a memorable and lasting impression that feels like an art installation.”
Maria Briganti
Urbanite Environments Design Director
MAKE IT MEMORABLE
AMP Capital set Urbanite the challenging task of creating an enticing, informative and memorable customer journey within this limited area. The objective was to interpret the qualities and character of 3XN’s architecture and the core creative idea that the Quay Quarter Tower will be the ‘workplace of the future’, making work environments more human, more flexible and more imaginative.
Quay Quarter Tower is the most significant piece of architecture to hit the front steps of Sydney’s Circular Quay. It introduces a whole new building concept that changes how people interact and work within organisational space, therefore our design thinking and approach to the display suite needed to convey all of that within an small 80sqm space, without the significant views and without re-creating the architecture.
Breaking the mould
Our concept thinking began by looking at the ideas behind 3XN’s aspirations for Quay Quarter Tower. From this, we drew together the following list of themes; view, location, architecture, trust, generous, human, community, culture and 3XN’s Kim Nielson’s notion of a ‘vertical village’. We researched and created a strategy for interpreting these themes into an interior design scheme using materials, technologies and spatial configurations.
The curved nature of the walls, warm materiality and overall layout of the display suite was chosen to juxtapose the angular and very clean, white design of 3XN’s architecture. It was also designed to disorientate the visitor and create a controlled journey and sequence of experiences throughout the suite so the agents could guide the visitor through the sales journey.
A royal blue, glowing circular entrance was developed to heighten anticipation with a custom curved royal blue door, a unique and unexpected detail, where the entry is unlike any commercial threshold, therefore further disorientating the visitor.
The approach to the interior form and joinery detailing is from a modernist, clean aesthetic. Many corners have a radius so that the junction between the ceiling plane and the walls is blurred and the functional timber joinery floats within this clean curved white box.
Outside of aesthetics, the brief was for the suite to feel ‘high tech’ so a Digital Consultant was engaged to deliver the digital works which Urbanite concepted.
For example, one short-throw lens projector is hidden behind a wall and immerses the entrance in a series of moving images of water and sky. The immersion of the entrance is intensified with a blue mirrored ceiling framed with a blue glow around perimeter and an intense blue custom rug inset into the floor all creating a very dramatic entrance. The projection can then be controlled by the Sales Agent via iPad for an entry experience as well as an exit experience.
Additionally, the content of the monitors within the suite includes videos with stories of the project, information and CGIs organised precinct by precinct and plans of office spaces. The iPads allow people to draw on the screen to mark-up architectural plans.
As a kind of pièce de résistance, to give visitors a sense of what the amenities of the surrounding precinct, the vertical timber model was projected with services, features and assets of the local area. This was controlled and tailored by the agent with an iPad.
