Interiors award for Minter Ellison Sydney office

The BVN designed Minter Ellison workplace is the winner of the 2016 John Verge Award for Interior Architecture in the NSW Architecture Awards conducted by the Australian Institute of Architects.

According to the jury the project “provided a new benchmark for the design of legal workplaces”.

They found that “through a rigorous challenging of the traditional hierarchical legal office structure, the architects have developed a new model blending office based work with the principles of Activity Based Workplace (ABW)."

The outcome was a "collaborative and connected working environment.”

The jury also noted that choosing to minimise material use by exposing concrete floors and ceilings was bold for a legal workspace and reflects the progressive nature of the project and the client.

Ms Domino Risch, Workplace Director, BVN, noted that “a desire for visual connectivity has created a series of overlapping and cascading voids with a ribbon-like winding oak stair connecting the floors, minimising lift use and encouraging less sedentary behaviour.”

She also pointed out that there are a range of work settings, “with minimally sized multi-functional offices for partners and sit-to-stand benches, with the number of partners choosing to sit with their teams steadily increasing.”

The Minter Ellison workplace is eligible to receive a national architecture award that will be announced in November.