When freight logistics company Ofload was designing a new workplace and headquarters on Clarence Street in Sydney, using design to enhance the office environment was a priority.
The new 155 Clarence Street property was refurbished across two levels, to create a dynamic, energising, welcoming and collaborative destination workplace. The aesthetic embodies the company’s ambitions for growth, and its progressive brand identity. Playfulness is balanced by professionalism, and zones that encourage connection are complemented by defined, serene areas for focused work.
Because hybrid work has become normalised, and many talented people expect to work part of their week remotely, Ofload also aimed to have a workplace that attracted for people to come in and spend time together.
This welcoming and engaging ambience begins from the moment staff and clients enter the building. A light-filled interior features a sculptural timber staircase with glass balustrades alongside a bright, playful orange slide that connects the first floor and ground floor.
A social zone featuring a navy-blue pool table and a stunning acoustic wall with yellow accents sits alongside a beverage bar and modular couches in calming tones. In another area of the ground plane, tiered bleacher seating provides an activated area for informal gatherings and team meetings, and a guest reception area with comfortable seating surveys the ambience.
Upstairs, a combination of open plan workstations with natural light access, and semi-enclosed meeting zones, white board zones, focus rooms and a company board room delivers a balance of spaces that enable staff to match settings to their specific task or activity.
The diversity of spaces and amenities is tied together with a neutral, calm palette of natural colours and rich, deep blue enhancements including soft drapes for collaboration zones. Timber features layer in biophilic design, which is complemented by carpet tiles from GH Commercial’s Relaxing Floors Collection by Mohawk Group.
These Australian-made carpet tiles combine visual sophistication with wellbeing-enhancing design and materiality. The designs were inspired by the stress-reducing qualities of fractals, the geometric patterns that underpin nature’s harmony and beauty. The Ofload workplace features both ChillD and Fractal Ground styles, using the interplay of colours and patterns to create intuitive zoning and wayfinding for the horizontal plane.
ChillD features a computer-generated fractal pattern that is anchored by triangular seed-like segment shapes in a complementary, dark colour that adds visual movement and a sense of depth to the overall effect.
Fractal Ground reveals itself to the eye as a textural, organic ground cover visual that is both calming and fascinating. It has a subtle directionality and sense of movement that echoes natural ripples and rhythms.
The Relaxing Floors range of carpet tiles also support interior environment quality, with a dense construction that is soft underfoot, robust and delivers excellent acoustic performance to reduce noise transfer between collaboration zones and focus work areas.
The carpet tiles are also Red List-free, eliminating harmful chemicals, and carry Green Star ECS Level 4+ credentials.
Being made in Victoria also means the designers for the Ofload project could achieve short lead times, and the modular format of the carpet tiles allowed for easy installation and creative flexibility in delineating contrasts between hues and textures. This modularity also enhances the lifecycle sustainability, ensuring ease of replacement, while the exceptional quality of the manufacturing ensures long-term resilience in high traffic areas.
For the people of Ofload, the careful curation of materials, colours, textures and features across the workplace ensures the office experience is one that supports their talents and their productivity, while also delivering a sense of delight and connection.
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