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 Angel Place |
Rabobank were occupying 7-8 floors of Rabobank House, and also a few floors of Challis House in Martin Place.
Incorp had previously completed the fitout of a large computer room for Rabobank, so they were familiar with Incorp and the services able to be provided.
Incorp were chosen over 2 others to design for their new corporate office on Level 6, Angel Place.
The brief soon expanded with Rabobank persuing the idea of a ‘breakthrough' between their existing offices in 115 Pitt Street and 123 Pitt Street.
The decision was made that the main Reception area would remain on Level 7 of Rabobank House, as existing clients were familiar with the address and it seemed appropriate due to Rabobank having naming rights to the building.
Level 6 of Angel Place, being approximately 2000 square metres, was to house several different departments of the corporate division of the bank, as well as a Dealing Room, small computer room, staff café and central library.
Many staff were making the transition from offices to workstations, so Incorp designed spacious, executive workstations incorporating personal storage units and whiteboards.
All offices are placed away from the windows, giving the workstations more natural light and creating a more spacious feel. The use of full height glazing to all office fronts also helps to create a spacious feeling.
Level 6 of Angel Place also houses a central staff Café and eating area, which lies adjacent to a Library. The Library is separated from the café by a full height glass wall, with feature shelving by DeDeCe on the Library side.
This encourages staff to use the Library, and take material into the Café to read at their leisure.
Level 6 also houses a large Dealing Room with a slimline raised flooring system, custom made Dealing Desks and a feature glass wall for visibility to the remainder of the floor.
Rabobank are a global bank involved in the Primary Industries, and the Sydney office looks after the farmers of Australia and New Zealand. For this reason we based our concept on ‘sustainability'.
The designer's sourced products and materials which were environmentally friendly, or which had environmentally friendly manufacturing methods.
The floor plan shows quite a concentration of workstations, and to get away from a ‘sea' of workstations, colour and graphics were used to break up the space and create interest.
Workstation panels incorporate the use of Perspex, whiteboards, graphic images relating to the Primary Industries and fabric. The result is clean, crisp and streamlined, as well as being fun and innovative. White and silver powdercoating is predominant with hightlights of blue and orange.
Orange is a feature colour used throughout both Level 6 and Level 7. This represents the burnt ochre of the Australian outback, as well as hightlighting one of Rabobank's corporate colours. White is seen throughout the fitout, to keep the space crisp and clean.
Interest is obtained in the main circulation corridors through the use of ‘white on white' relief wall panels.
These main corridors lead to the most challenging part of the project – linking Angel Place with Rabobank House (115 Pitt St) via a ‘break through'. Over one weekend, an opening was created in the Angel Place building, then sealed up and fire rated until construction commenced next door on Level 7 of Rabobank House.
Once construction commenced next door, the same opening was created in 115 Pitt Street, and it was once again sealed up and fire rated.
Level 7 of Rabobank House was totally gutted and construction began to create an Executive office area, main Reception, Boardrooms, Meeting Rooms and Servery. The same materials and design features were carried through and the result is exciting and elegant.
A large Reception desk greets guests upon exiting the lifts, lit from underneath to create the illusion that the desk is ‘floating'. A large graphic image of a head of wheat is one of the main features of the space, printed in muted hues of orange. It is a stunning feature, and reminds clients and visitors of Rabobank's core business.
The Boardrooms each seat 16 people, and can be opened out to create one large room through the use of an operable wall. Each room has a full height credenza unit containing audio visual equipment and storage space.
Outside the Boardrooms is an ante-room type waiting area. It is linked with Reception, separated by the ‘Wheat' wall, the image on Reception side, the ante –room side consisting of slatted polyurethane panels in relief.
Lighting in the floor highlights this feature wall.
The end result brings Rabobank into the next century and has given staff a feeling of pride.
As designers, we are extremely proud of the new look for Rabobank.
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