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Product showroom response to ecological design aims
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Waste from the construction industry is approaching 1000kg per person per year. Retail and showroom fit outs have a very short life cycles as products and trends evolve.
With sustainability at the forefront of the design thinking, the showroom embraces the process of recycling, both in the choice of materials for fit out, the design thinking around the construction and disassembly process, and the acoustic panel itself. Users will leave educated and inspired about the importance of the small details, smart choices and how they, as an individual, are woven into the ecosystem.
This project aims to invoke a sense of the River City and invites the user to re-imagine the landscape and bird life of Brisbane retold through the acoustic panel product. This multi-sensory and theatrical experience will unravel as the user perilously travels through the space in juxtaposition to the city outside.
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Several concept designs were explored through a series of sketches after walking through the suburbs surrounding the showroom. My family has a long connection with Brisbane with my grandmother attending New Farm Primary School in the 1930s.
The initial concept focused strongly on spatial arrangement and feedback informed the development of additional layers of storytelling. A simple Revit model was developed to assist with the accessibility requirements around ramping and confirm the concept feasibility. From here a more detail Revit model was constructed with trees, branching canopy and bush turkey’s nest modeled as a series of families. Twinmotion was used as the rendering software.
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After reflecting on the interactions exploring national parks and wild spaces around southeast Queensland a series of conceptual sketches incorporating several memorable moments were produced. Boardwalks in and around the river’s edge and the deep shade of the Moreton Bay fig trees informed the spatial arrangement of the chosen concept design.
The showroom is located within a commercial/light industrial section of the inner city which is bordered by residential and short-term accommodation and retail.
Birdlife within Brisbane has been pushed to the remaining green spaces and bush turkeys often live at the margin of human tolerance, particularly when they build their nests.
I wanted the showroom to play on the idea of creating silence for lost or hidden moments. This was a reference to the use of the Woven Image acoustic panel helping to silence your noisy coworkers’ sighs and aggressive keyboard strokes.
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Fit out can be deconstructed and reused or recycled through the Woven Image Take Back system. This will require fixing details that don’t use adhesive.
Educate customers about recycling and reuse.
Invoke the Mysterious in that it is not immediately obvious on entering.
Produce a contemplative mood about natural/wild spaces and the impact of the
built environment on these, thus promoting an ecological world view.
Invoke a sense of peril and safety moving through the space.
