Peters Ice Cream had been operating in Wellington Road, Mulgrave for decades. Its former headquarters, a classic 1960s office building, with its sinuous roofline and waffle-style facade is now "hip" decades later.
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Unfortunately, for the new owners of this site, listed property trust company Charter Hall, the iconic 1960s building was not large enough to accommodate its 150 staff.
"We were extremely reluctant to replace this building with a new office as it has become a landmark for those driving along Wellington Road," says architect Nik Tabain, director of Gray Puksand.
Located on the corner of Peters Avenue, the sprawling site includes a number of two-storey buildings, some of which are fairly prominent and almost 10 metres in height.
"Our clients wanted a single floor to accommodate staff rather than locate people across two levels," says Tabain, who was also conscious of not designing a building that appeared to be "swallowed" by the surrounding buildings, one of which was originally used by Peters to produce ice-cream.
Locating the new office towards the rear of the site became the preferred option.
As well as allowing staff and visitors to enjoy the history of the site (former buildings), the rear elevation features a dramatic fall of approximately five metres.
Gray Puksand was able to benefit from this slope by designing a single-level building poised above a car parking area.
Supported by steel columns, the design centred on creating a building that felt embedded in its treed setting, with its many established eucalypts.
"The butterfly roof became an important design feature, giving it a sense of presence among the nearby buildings," says Tabain, who angled the roofline approximately 25 degrees.
The shape of the roof also acts as a signpost for those driving through the site, initially only capturing a glimpse of the form after leaving Wellington Road.
"The roof also defines the point of entry, like a signpost. We also wanted to dramatise the soffits to allow for sun protection as well as strengthen the building's presence," he adds.
Gray Puksand also referred to the eucalypts in terms of colour palette as well as expressing the architecture. The exterior aluminium panels, for example, range from soft greys to mossy greens, evocative of the bark on the eucalypts.
On the western elevation, to deflect the afternoon sunlight, the steel structural columns are arranged in a more sporadic manner, like the branches of a tree.
"The perforated screens have also been more randomly placed to create that bush setting," says Tabain.
The architects were also keen to create unimpeded sight lines within the open plan offices, approximately 2500 square metres in area.
By locating the amenities, such as the bathrooms, in the core of the floor plate, the perimeter walls were left unencumbered.
Gray Puksand also designed the work areas akin to what they refer to as "neighbourhoods", with glass-fronted office pods loosely dividing the open plan work areas.
"We wanted to get as much natural light into the work spaces as possible, while still allowing for areas where people can meet privately," says Tabain, who was thinking of the European model of landscape design when sketching the initial schemes.
"With the European model, your attention is often drawn to a certain detail in the landscape. This detail then becomes a trigger that takes your vision deeper into the setting.
"You start to see beyond the trees," says Tabain, who engineered the siting of this new building along similar principles.
"It's only when you reach a certain point along the drive that the form of the building reveals itself."
