“A space that affects all the senses:” Bates Smart and MillerKnoll create a holistic workplace in Melbourne

A new kind of office sits in the skyline of one of Australia’s most densely populated cities. Underneath its windows unfolds the Melbourne metropolis, grids of bustling streets full of traffic, commuters, workers, and tourists. And yet, this is a space of serenity – a quiet, warm, and welcoming environment that presents a way of working that is intertwined with wellness.

The office is the newest outpost for a prominent health science company and was designed as an extension of their commitment to health and wellbeing. Bates Smart were engaged to bring this vision to life, creating a space that reimagines commercial design into a more holistic model. The key to meeting this brief was MillerKnoll, whose network of global brands and designers appear throughout the fitout in a series of customised, configured, and re-loved arrangements to facilitate a space that performs like an office but feels like a retreat.

Disarmed by calmness

Stepping inside the space is a transformative experience. The stark lighting and enclosed cubicles we so often expect in this typology have been replaced by a collection of open, organic pods and zones that are lit by a diffused, warm glow. Rounded edges and a gentle, warm materiality add to this feeling, creating a further departure from typical office environments.

Both the function and the beauty of the interiors largely come from the MillerKnoll fitout, where pieces from CBS, Herman Miller, Muuto, NaughtOne and Geiger form elevated hubs for individual working, collaboration, and meetings. A sense of playfulness and simplicity comes from the selection of these pieces, where influences from residential taxonomies create the calm and welcoming environment that Bates Smart sought to achieve.

“There’s a real warmth to this space,” says Josh Coughlan, Regional Sales Manager at MillerKnoll, “this is seen quite well in the communal and breakout spaces where Muuto, a Scandinavian brand, brings a level of warmth and complements the functionality and aesthetics of the space. NoughtOne, a brand based in the UK. brings a playfulness and simplicity to the application within the space. We see Herman Miller workstations such as Atlas, Ratio and OE1 adapted and customised to the needs of the clients at the direction of Bates Smart.”

Curation and adaptation

This adaptivity has been essential to the success of the fitout, with MillerKnoll creating customised and curated solutions specifically for the project. The Herman Miller Atlas Sit-to-stand Workstations, and the Herman Miller OE1 Micro Packs are the stars of the show here, where local engagement from MillerKnoll allowed for their global solutions to be tailored to the vision of the project.

In particular, the OE1 Packs took on collaborative lens, with the existing product combining with locally manufactured joinery to achieve a cohesive cluster of workstations that fed into the material and colour narratives of the space.

MillerKnoll’s repurpose program was also imperative in bringing this project to life, allowing for pieces from past fitouts to be brought into this new project. In particular, the Herman Miller Caper Stacking chairs – used in this space as seminar seating – are on their third iteration with the client, travelling to three of their office spaces and standing as a testament to MillerKnoll’s quality and longevity, but also to their commitment to repurposing products through their lifespan.

A space to exhale

Whether working in a solo hub, clustered around a meeting room table, or chatting across a breakout space, this office is made to facilitate work done differently. Charged by an undercurrent of serenity, it is a space that shifts from workplace to wellness retreat, unveiling a new way of working that prioritises health and happiness.

As a new standard for the typology, Bates Smart’s collaboration with MillerKnoll was essential, allowing them to unlock variations and applications of their products to facilitate the design vision and – in the words of Bates Smart Director Brenton Smith – “creating an overall space where people come in and naturally feel like they can exhale.”

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