Prue Pascoe asked this question when she visited Geyer’s Melbourne studio which has now been refurbished after more than 20 years.

The Melbourne space has been the constant through all the cultural change since 1983 which has seen Geyer evolve into the largest solely interior design practice in Australia.

Located six storeys up at 259 Collins Street, it has been privy to the many great ideas that have been bounced around, debated and challenged. They have silently captured the projected design dreams and have been a backdrop to countless presentations. Clients have been welcomed, knowledge has been shared and friends have been made.

Successes have been celebrated, failures supported and a thousand birthday songs have been sung. From inside the walls of this office a multitude of other spaces have been realised. So, omitting them from any future plans could never be an option.

Geyer re-branded in 2001 to become Geyer P/L. As the brand has matured and the culture evolved, the need for a new Melbourne office became increasingly evident.

As Geyer’s history was tied to this office and re-locating (even temporarily) was not feasible, strategies were set in place to keep the workplace operating through the major renovation.

“It is a process we have applied to many of our clients who have chosen to remain in occupation during a refurbishment. Interestingly, it is often easier to enact these processes externally than to apply them to your own work practices.

Out-of-hours work was a given to minimise disruption and much of the material was procured off-site. In instances during certain construction activities we gave our people the option to work remotely from home,” Peter McCamley recalls.

McCamley began at Geyer in 1992 at the time Geyer opened its Sydney office. He is Chief Executive Officer and Peter Geyer the Strategic Director.

Both took a deliberate step back in the design, handing it to Michael Greer, Kelly Hall, Karen Griffin, Matthew Sheargold and Sam Shiel. Assuming the role of the client, they were taken on a journey through the Geyer design process from an entirely new viewpoint…

Read the whole feature article in Indesign Magazine #32, on newstands February 14th.

www.geyer.com.au