APA, Australia’s leading gas provider, previously had its headquarters in Dandenong. However, keen to have a prominent location and to retain and attract staff, it recently relocated to the city’s edge (the Dandenong office was retained for engineering services).

The company found two interconnected floors in a 1980s tower overlooking the Yarra River and framed by Melbourne’s skyline. Inheriting a ‘blank canvas’, but restricted by the base building, Ardent had to alter one of the windows to allow for greater air circulation for the number of staff who were relocating from the Dandenong office. And with changes to the building regulations since the ‘80s, other modifications were also required for levels 13 and 14 APA to be occupied by APA.

Fortunately, the two levels had already been joined by a staircase, one of the features apart from the outlook that appealed to the clients. And although the unusual diamond-shaped floorplates create interest, this shape also meant that Ardent Architects had to ‘fill these gaps’ with open plan meeting areas rather than traditional workstations. One facet of the brief from the outset was to ensure a democratic, rather than hierarchical, arrangement of offices. So, the directors, managers and other executive staff share the open plan workspaces, with only a few offices enclosed by glass walls.

Designed for approximately 220 people, with the intention to expand numbers in the future, the workstations are primarily located on the periphery with the core accommodating the lifts and stairs, together with the bathrooms and other amenities. While the 1980s shell was the starting point, the fit-out now includes timber-battened ceilings and walls to add warmth and texture, along with a series of black-and-white graphics on glass walls depicting large gas manufacturing operations in remote areas of Australia, many of which have never been seen by those working in this office. Other features that tie back to APA include the large circular felt disks on the ceiling in the company’s corporate colours for both decorative and acoustic control. The red-tiled splashback in the communal kitchen also picks up on the company’s corporate colour. And while not particularly derivative of APA’s history, the reception counter, made from a clear polypropylene and illuminated from below, creates a light effect, not dissimilar to gas itself.

Far from being corporate or clinical, this new office fit-out allows for considerable connectivity, as well as benefiting from its central and highly prized location.