AMP Advice First

AMP is a leading life insurer and retirement savings provider, helping thousands of Kiwis by providing financial advice and services.

When AMP were looking for an innovative and collaborative design partner to establish a new Northern Hub, GHDWoodhead creativespaces were a natural fit.

GHDWoodhead creativespaces designed an open floor workspace focused on flexible working styles that enhance cross-team collaboration and communication. Meeting rooms and shared spaces are
flexible and connected to allow for a wide range of meeting types, including audio visual conferencing.

AMP and subsidiary AdviceFirst relocated several of its teams into one floor plate and wanted an adaptable environment.

The brief for the look and feel of the fitout was a welcoming, residential aesthetic rather than a clinical and stark corporate one. They were keen to move away from the outmoded white look to a relaxed
contemporary appearance.

This was achieved by the design team with polished concrete flooring, textural black ceilings, strandboard joinery and cladding, pops of feature colour and innovative acoustic and lighting solutions.

Staff also enjoy a well-appointed café facility with banquette feature fabric and exquisite finishes which provides a familiar and relaxed environment.

Feedback from the user has been overwhelmingly positive, with the décor, creative planting and fresh kitchen proving to be a hit with both staff and visitors.

AMP Cafe

Having recently completed the fitout design for the AMP Northern Hub office, GHDWoodhead creativespaces were asked to develop a concept for the staff café at the AMP Centre in Auckland central.

The brief for the look and feel of the fitout was to create a contemporary and welcoming social hub, that staff and visitors could be wowed by. The undisputed highlight of the existing space however were the views of the harbour and city.

To celebrate and emphasize the views, the café was increased in size slightly to accentuate the harbour outlook, with a previously obscured window, revealed to great effect.

The kitchen joinery was also rearranged with a large horizontal straight worktop and practical storage options.  The central island with expresso café machine can be used on either side, as both food preparation and seating space, with the provision of new fast charge USB access ports, an added feature for staff.

The new look and feel has an innovative industrial aesthetic, it brings to mind a retail café from Kinglsland or Ponsonby, with polished concrete flooring, textural black ceilings, timber and matt black joinery, a tiled splashback and eclectic furniture options including timber leaner, banquette seating and high back soft seating.

Copper Pendants and creative planting including stacked mobile plant walls, sky planters, potted herbs and climbing plant wall are highlights.
The adjacent training rooms have been refreshed, and when left open, allow the café to spill into the area creating a large engaging area, perfect for hosting client or staff functions.

The café can now double as an impromptu meeting space or agile working zone, with back to back high back leaner booths contributing multi-use options.

Feedback from the user has been overwhelmingly positive and the new café has proved popular, with the décor, creative planting and barista coffee verifying a success with both staff and visitors.

ATEED

Creative Spaces were selected by the newly formed Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development to undertake the design and project management of their new three floor premises at Princes Wharf.

Client Project Manager Janine Grainger offered the following appraisal of Creative Spaces’ performance:

"Creative Spaces delivered a fitout that is functional, fit for purpose, and aesthetically well-designed, all of which was achieved within tight budget and time limitations. As a public sector organisation, mindful of expenditure, we reused a significant amount of soft fitout from our previous offices, and required prudent design of the hard fitout components. Creative Spaces managed to work within these constraints to produce an end result that is stylish and enjoyable to work in."

Auckland Central Library

When Auckland Council decided to relocate the Children's area of their Central library, the new location, visible from the main entry provided an opportunity to create a vibrant and exciting first impression. The result is a vibrant hub for the library and a fun space for families to enjoy. This is a flexible space where a wide range of activities can be held, including storytelling, reading, and play events.

The high ceilings created an opportunity for suspended features and creative lighting elements, while the large back wall provides an excellent backdrop for display and colour. The creative concept for the area was based around the fantasy Kiwi kids story, "Once Upon a Time, a Taniwha came to visit my tree hut."

A ‘Treehouse' forms a central focal point for the area sitting on a section of raised floor, it is an ideal location for story-telling, with the interior providing another quiet reading space.

The ‘Taniwha' is an abstract, fun, sculptural element; used to separate the area from the rest of the library, with plenty of shelving, display areas, and recesses creating reading nooks and cubby holes. The design process involved reviewing traditional methods of depicting a Taniwha (wood carving) and essentially carving out the space from 3 dimensional forms. An intuitive, flexible shelving system was developed that to allow flat and face up book display alternatives. The feature graphic artwork which adorns the treehouse and taniwha was a collaboration between a local iwi artist and the design team.

Auckland Council

Creative Spaces authored a new Workplace Strategy for the whole of Auckland Council across the region, and was subsequently engaged as primary consultant to undertake the design, documentation and site observation of the new workplace at 135 Albert Street over almost 30 levels of the former ASB Centre. The strategy was the driver for Council to move to more flexible, mobile and collaborative workstyles, across both the physical and virtual realms, and enabled by technology. The project involved the refurbishment and total upgrade of a 1990s era building into over 28,000 square metres of 5–star rated Green Building Council accredited office space. In addition, Creative Spaces designed the refit of 10 levels of the Bledisloe building to accommodate over 1,000 council staff.

The new workplace environment has no offices and is designed to allow occupants to transition from individually assigned workspaces to totally unassigned workspaces without any change to the physical environment. The ability to be fully mobile within the workplace, if required by the user profile, is an important part of the Workplace Strategy.

The Workplace Strategy project started in late 2012 and the design and delivery phases of the project continued through to late 2014, by which point the 3500 Council employees in the Auckland CBD were relocated from leased and surplus buildings into two primary locations.

Auckland Council Customer Service Centre

Completed in late 2014, Creative Spaces worked with Auckland Council on an innovative new customer focussed retail experience within the ground floor of the refurbished Bledisloe House.

After resolution of an extensive brief, the most important instruction to the project team was that the new Customer Service Centre was to be a 'customer centred' retail experience, must be attractive and perform well over a long period with relatively little capital outlaid, and have low operating costs.

The team had to think carefully including re-consideration of size and design approaches to achieve the low budgets required by council. The result is a clever, colourful fitout intended to fascinate, entertain and educate while being particularly focussed on service delivery to ratepayers and council customers.

The Customer Service Centre is approximately 10% smaller than the previous centre housed in the Civic building, but also has a dual purpose as the primary Bledisloe Building arrival point.

The space has been designed as a ‘found space experience' - a retail approach, where the focus is on the needs of the customer, rather than the traditional ‘service centre' approach. Architecturally the space is simple but activated with applied graphics, colour and technology. Key transactional and record sharing zones provide many options for customers to select an interaction which suits them best.

Bunnings

A desire for flexible spaces with collaboration and social interaction was paramount, as was the need to reflect the well-known brand in the fit out design. A cultural shift for the office is distinguished both aesthetically and socially in the new way of working.

The fitout was delivered over two floors, including a new internal stair which creates a social connection and link to the energetic social hub located on the upper floor.

A celebration of the client and their products is evident in decorative feature walls throughout the fitout. For example, trellis is stripped and re-arranged in decorative patterns, found building materials are given a new lease of life and displayed in creative and innovative ways.

Colours throughout the fitout reflect branding hues, and are offset with simple pine and timber veneer details. A stripped and refined pallet feature wall creates a DIY feel behind reception. The curvilinear “rockcote” reception desk, had a refined industrial aesthetic which serves as a nod to the building industry.  The effect is a formal and slick reception that is both professional and familiar.

A3 dimensional pipework timeline painted red (company graphic wall) illustrates the establishment of Bunnings from a small Australian Perth sawmilling company founded in 1887 to the global hardware store brand it has become.

The hospitality bar adjacent is distinguished with feature splashback and red coloured grout. The cafeteria mimics that found in a Bunnings store, including furniture selections. Casual booth seating in the café area is framed with an exposed steel frame, reminiscent of a garden shed.

Autex pinboards and custom glassboards, corkboard wall and Duragroove woodgrain wall panelling create an interesting counterpoint.

Feature lighting in quiet rooms and meeting rooms is all from Bunnings in store catalogue.

The theme for the fitout is that of a Bunnings retail store with garden centre reflected in feature planter, hardware, trade, kitset kitchens and DIY.

A new outdoor deck has been added to the building via previously unused roof structure, this deck is completed with sheltered louvretech pergola and features Bunnings decking and outdoor furniture.

Cerebos Greggs

Cerebos Greggs moved from an industrial site in East Tamaki into the historic AEPB building in Newmarket. The move is an important cultural shift, enabling the team to be under one roof, and to be 100% open plan. It is also seen as a big advantage having a closer presence to key clients as Cerebos Greggs is increasingly moving into the coffee and hospitality arena.

The new location is on a split level floor within a long building. This change in level is emphasised by creating a different aesthetic in both areas, with the Café space acting as a transition point.  ‘Upstairs’ is more functional for the contact centre and finance team. It has extra meeting rooms and acoustic treatment, whereas ‘downstairs’ has larger open collaboration spaces and the café.  A long ramp with bright red carpet was constructed to connect the open plan area with the Food and Coffee Studio. This visually breaks up the space and gives the user a more elevated view of the outlook over Nuffield Street.

The Food and Coffee Studio is the feature piece of the fitout and is located adjacent to the reception allowing visitors a rare glimpse to ‘behind-the-scenes’ coffee and food preparation. The Studio exterior is painted a copper colour, emulating a large roasting vat. Within the space there is plywood tiered seating, punctuated with colourful seat pads, capable of housing the entire company for large functions and demonstrations.

The new building came with heritage constraints that added a rich level of interest to the new fitout. It was a requirement to use an old Kauri operable wall which became a large sliding door to separate a ‘war-room’ space; and Kauri wall panelling became an honours board for the sales team. Creative Spaces took the challenge one step further and repurposed further materials. Existing office door hardware was installed onto new meeting room doors, and the old doors were used as cladding for the Café tree-house. Partition glazing became a whiteboard surface. The raw honesty of the building was exposed by areas of ceiling grid being taken away revealing the existing terracotta coloured roof trusses and large concrete beams. The extract ducts from the Food and Coffee Studio were featured and highlighted in bright yellow. Cerebos Greggs was able to salvage timber from their original Dunedin factory and this now clads the Newmarket reception desk.

Brand presence was extremely important for Cerebos Greggs. Each meeting room was assigned a brand which is reflected in the furniture, lighting and graphics. Custom shelving located outside the boardroom displays food and coffee, and the coffee machines have their own dedicated showroom area adjacent to reception.

Chester

Chester, a medium sized engineering consultancy that has been operating for over 30 years, engaged Creative Spaces to bring their growing team together in an inviting, fun and future-proof environment.  The design of the space is aligned with their new branding and a reflection of their company values.

The completed fitout offers a technology enabled, friendly and collaborative working environment coupled with a modern and impressive front of house space for clients.

A custom designed feature wall celebrates the company’s history and values with emphasis on “Positive People delivering Positive Outcomes”.

Crowe Horwath

Creative Spaces was engaged to provide design services for Crowe Horwath's move to arguably the best office space in the city, namely the top floor (Level 29) of the PwC Centre. The floor enjoys spectacular and unrivalled harbour views extending from Rangitoto to the Harbour Bridge.

The design has a warm and professional appearance, with a fresh and vibrant feel, expressive of the Crowe Horwath culture. The colour palette complements the exceptional views, with Reception and Client areas harmonising with harbour tones, workspace areas relating to the Cityscape and the Café to the distant land and sea views.

Previously, Crowe Horwath were accommodated over two fairly uncoordinated floors. The move to a single efficient floor plate has provided a more productive work environment and facilitated communication within the organisation. The new design incorporates considerably improved and flexible client presentation facilities reconfigurable into multiple settings through the use of two operable walls.

DDB

DDB’s new office accommodates all 261 staff over two levels.  A working production studio is incorporated, as well as an open plan office space for numerous sub-brands and groups. A theatrical experience is created through the eclectic and rich collage of materials and textures throughout the building.

The exposed plywood staves wrapping the reception desk and social hub creates a sense of warmth, whilst perfectly contrasting against its linear matte black joinery. The black herringbone vinyl feature wall located behind the welcome kiosk creates an interesting counterpoint with the polished concrete flooring.  Feature ceilings with black grid, and an organic voluptuous concierge kiosk.  A personalised rich green moss wall art-piece, creates a visual impression against the stark black wall, and is a subtle nod to the DDB logo.

A vibrant and collaborative social hub serves as a space for informal waiting. With bump space for teams and clients to meet, in a relaxed hospitality setting with stunning views to Kauri Point and the upper Waitemata Harbour.

Light, sheer curtains and glazing details create a loft-like residential feel, with silhouette effect, creating a softness which offsets the hard and somewhat brutal dominance of the building. Inspired by trends from Salone del Mobile 2018, soft and muted colours, sugary pastel pinks and mint greens are interplayed with bold olive green and petrol blue joinery.

A warm vintage look throughout, with the desire to be timeless.  The use of Scandinavian brands such as Muuto, plus local designers, Tim Webber and Simon James keep it contemporary with a NZ creative undertone.  Curvaceous pieces in soft tones, such as joinery, walls and furnishings are teamed with blonde wood in form of finnish birch plywood evident in wall details, ceilings and joinery.

In the client informal lounge, a Tim Webber walker chair/sofa contrasts the strength of slim bent steel frames with large pillowy comfort seat cushions and armrests. In the client facing corridor, Tim Webber custom shelving is utilised to display a curated selection of awards from DDB’s vast collection.

The result of the fitout is an exemplar of unpretentious sophistication and casual grace that is inspiring to both employees and guest alike.

Goodman Property Trust

Goodman Property Trust (GMT) is an NZX-listed Unit Trust which invests in high quality industrial and office property. It is an established business built around a modern portfolio, a wide customer base and a proven development capability.

Goodman’s own+develop+manage model is an integrated customer service offering at the heart of their business.

Known for being a professional, trusted and successful leader in the property industry, when they were looking for a designer of their own corporate head office, the same qualities were sought.

GHDWoodhead creativespaces were engaged as Design Consultant after a competitive bidding process with peers in the industry.

The brief for the new office within Auckland’s Viaduct Quarter in the Goodman-owned VXV precinct, was to create an open, highly flexible office that encourages collaboration and a freedom to work related to the task at hand.

The space caters for 50 fulltime staff yet only 38 workstations are provided.  The balance is made up of quiet spaces, phone booths, soft seating and meeting spaces.  With no assigned desking, and a clean desk policy, staff are encouraged to be truly responsive.

There is a clear focus on high-end technology and improved staff interaction.

With a desire to push the boundaries of the previously traditional office, the shift to agile workspace is reinforced by workplace champions.

A welcoming reception, and inviting communal space are key features.

Sustainability was a key driver for the fitout design, and the project is targeting a 5 Green Star Interior Built rating.

The polished concrete floor and soda blasted columns in conjunction with exposed ceilings and services, form an industrial aesthetic that is complemented with creative planting, surfaces of colour, and warm timber. Aged copper downpipes provide cabling to the workstations, providing an interesting material counterpoint.

The result is an inspiring and revitalising space, a unique forward-thinking fitout, which truly showcases the Goodman organisation and brand.

Kathmandu

Creative Spaces assisted Kathmandu with the design of their new office headquarters in Christchurch’s inner-city innovation precinct. The new offices are located adjacent to the Kathmandu Concept store.

It was important that the fitout aligned with Kathmandu’s values and purpose. Kathmandu has a strong commitment to social and environmental responsibility and its vision for employees to work in a healthy, efficient and productive building.

Kathmandu’s stated purpose "To Inspire Adventure in Everyone", was the overarching theme carried through all three floors. The company’s values (integrity, resourcefulness, love of travel and adventure, passion and determination, environmental action) play out in the structure and materials.

Entering the ground floor, the journey begins; there is a sense of ‘I’ve landed’. It is a transition between public and private with a blend of urban and outdoor adventure. Timber recycled from earthquake salvage lines the reception walls, concrete around the core of the building is exposed, and the café joinery has a dark and moody metropolitan feel. Visitors can see and touch wall panels which are wrapped with Kathmandu fabrics, and there is a strong graphic presence, globally transporting the visitor.

Level 1, which houses the design team, is warm and relaxed, and has a strong sense of Outdoor Adventure. Highlights of green carpet offset the recycled timber walls, and the kitchenette is playfully named ‘The Campsite’. Level 2 on the other hand, reflects the Urban Adventure. Scaffolding frames a shared collaboration space, the kitchenette joinery is clad with steel and core concrete panels are exposed. The monochrome palette is balanced by large graphics which depict city landscapes, neon lights and all.

Equally as important as representing the brand, the fitout needed to be fit for purpose. There are large spaces to assemble tents both inside and out, and a presentation room that can be opened up to the café, allowing for large functions. The open plan area is lined with magnetic whiteboards which are constantly changing as designs emerge, and the at-desk storage is custom designed to house clothing and equipment samples.

Labtests

The Labtests project required Creative Spaces to deliver highly specified, services-intensive laboratory facilities in a very short timeframe. The scope included selection, design and fit-out of the site for the main laboratory, as well as fit-out design for the various proposed collection sites around Auckland. The laboratories house a number of specialist services and were designed to a very specific brief. They include contamination controlled air-conditioning, special gases, air extraction and de-ionised water.

Leighs Construction

Leighs Construction is one of New Zealand's leading construction companies, based in Christchurch. They deliver construction projects across a number of sectors including commercial, primary industry, agriculture, retail, health, education, and government throughout New Zealand and overseas.

When Leighs were looking set up their head office and relocate to a new building in the centre of Christchurch, Creative Spaces worked collaboratively both with Leighs and the Building Architect Sheppard & Rout.

The Canterbury earthquakes in 2010/2011 irrevocably damaged the High Street precinct, with Victorian and Edwardian streetscapes and lively laneways changed forever, and most of the heritage buildings demolished. 219 High Street, formerly the Strange's and Glendenning Hill Buildings, at the corner of High, Lichfield and Manchester Streets was in April the first to open in the core CBD.

A proud employer, the interior fitout for Leighs is about recognising that every worker needs time that is uninterrupted to concentrate and attend to specific tasks such as thinking and ‘head down' work.

Collaborative working with one or more people is encouraged with soft seating and a large breakout space on the ground floor. Structural reliability and integrity is important to staff, and having the structure visible creates trust with the Leighs staff and visitors. The interior palette of warm timber, black and corporate yellow complements the industrial setting of the architecture with exposed concrete walls and exposed steel structure.

Lion

Lion's partnership with Creative Spaces aimed to bring Lion's people together in a stimulating and creative environment that encouraged collaborative working styles. Spread over two locations, Lion decided to consolidate into 5100sqm in the heart of Auckland. The new site is immediately adjacent to State Highway 1, New Zealand's iconic road stretching from Cape Reinga in the North, to Bluff in the South. With this in mind, theming over the two floors was developed into the North and South Island, bringing together quintessential Kiwi places and past times that epitomise the company's products.

Lion have a dynamic group of people working with their diverse range of brands. It became essential that the workplace should reflect the diversity of both whilst still maintaining a highly functional space.

Every person within Lion, from the Managing Director down, changed into an open plan environment. This was supported by an increased number of quiet rooms, collaboration options and bookable meeting rooms.  High levels of detail and variation in finishes and texture added to the richness and personalisation of the design.

Manukau Library

This project developed as a result of the desire to co-locate two separate libraries, the Research Library and administration at Ronwood Avenue and the Community Library in the Westfield Shopping Centre, in one location in the Manukau City Centre.

Creative Spaces was commissioned to help evaluate existing buildings to establish their suitability for providing library accommodation. The selected building at 3 Osterley Way provided sufficient space on two floors and was ideally located on the Northern side of the Civic Square - the library 'activating' the square's northern edge and contributing further to what is perceived to be a 'civic precinct'.

Whilst co-locating the two libraries provided significant benefits for customers and staff, they still provide quite distinct services and, because of the limited floor areas, it was decided to locate the Community Library on the ground floor and the Research Library on the first floor and to reinforce the connections between the two as much as was possible in an existing building. Planning focused on providing a customer-centric, intuitive layout, providing spaces for quiet reflection, study and community participation and display.

The interior design used as its inspiration the existing physical context (external paving, existing shop front glazing) and our knowledge of the community the library serves to create an interior of highly decorated surfaces acknowledging the decorative traditions of Pacific Island and Maori culture and the history of human activity in Manukau.

Mayne Wetherell

When law firm Mayne Wetherell moved their offices from their current CBD location, to embrace the informality within the vibrant innovative Wynyard Quarter, partnering with Creative Spaces was a natural fit.

Mayne Wetherell, are a specialist law firm, who are recognised market leaders in corporate and finance law.

Their brief was to create a space that showed comfort and quality without being too formal, a refined residential aesthetic rather than a traditional corporate approach. Having already adopted open plan workspaces to create a non-hierarchical, open and supportive environment, the new focus was to create a flexible workspace for clients and staff to enjoy. Being a legal practice that operates in the financial sector, acoustic privacy for client meeting rooms and confidentiality in the workplace was crucial. 

The flexible work environment encourages learning and sharing of ideas, where juniors can be directly mentored by senior staff. Fixed height shared work benches with slide on screen dividers, or individual sit to stand workdesks are provided for staff. The modular design allows workdesks to be easily repositioned along the central storage spine, enabling flexibility to change teams on a project by project basis.

The project palette integrates polished concrete floors, bespoke routed timber panels, black joinery and hardware with neutral blue-grey tones in soft furnishings and custom designed rugs. The overall look is timeless and sophisticated, where the environment captures and enhances the Mayne Wetherell culture.

McConnell Group

Creative Spaces was engaged to design a new space that would be very different to McConnell Group's existing and very traditional offices. McConnell's brief was for a creative, inspirational, collaborative space that made the most of its exciting new harbour-side location and views. The new environment was not a typical office building, and this created the possibility to make a real statement using some of the not so traditional features of the space.

The existing floor was split into two tenancies, making it necessary to relocate the existing stairs to the mezzanine area. Careful consideration ensured the stairs were seamlessly integrated with the other finishes and did not detract from the client's desire to have a view through to the rest of the office.

Following the original fitout project, Creative Spaces delivered an extension in the form of a new suite of offices, accompanied by meeting spaces and a large boardroom. The boardroom is central to the design as the Group regularly holds a range of meetings - from large, formal gatherings to informal collaborations. This area was made a feature through the use of unique timber boardroom doors that are essentially a piece of art. The corridor linking the boardroom area with the open-plan offices continues this theme using prominent timber joinery to striking visual effect.

NZ Live

NZ Live won the contract to provide the 24/7 TV service for the TAB's two horse racing channels. Creative Spaces was contracted to design and project manage the highly specialised TV studio fitout at 60 Stanley Street.

The state-of-the-art facility incorporate four TV studios plus backup facilities and offices. Other TV programmes such as "7 Days" are now also produced and broadcast form the venue. The project was delivered under stringent timelines to achieve the "go live" date set by the Racing Board. The fitout was complex involving highly specialised acoustic design and coordination with the sophisticated I.T./data installation.

The scope included integration with the base building and close liaison with the Landlord.

OfficeMax Christchurch

In 2015, when Officemax were looking for the establishment of a new flagship retail store to showcase their commercial interior furniture and café products, the involvement of Creative Spaces as a proven leader in commercial interiors was a natural fit.

A new concept in retail for Officemax, the brief was to move away from the traditional retail store, and provide a solution that was more residential in feel and catered to the more sophisticated business customer. This is very much an aspirational showroom, with a facility for customers to come meet within the showroom.

While the traditional stationery offering is still evident, it does not dominate the space, and is presented in a more refined and understated way.
A café in the centre of the store is used as both a place to collaborate with potential customers, but also a corner to showcase the Officemax café products, such as coffee machines, coffee beans, speciality teas and appliances.

A minimalistic timber “reception” concierge desk, with display shelving and devoid of impulse product display, replaces the traditional cluttered point of sale counter.

The result is a sophisticated showroom that compliments the new direction of Officemax in the corporate environment.

Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard’s new fitout aimed to bring their people together into a fresh and transparent environment that encouraged collaborative working styles. Previously spread over several floors, Pernod Ricard decided to consolidate onto one 1800m2 floor, in a newly constructed inner city building. Pernod Ricard wanted the fitout to speak strongly of the products they represented. The overall palette was chosen to represent a ‘Crisp Clean NZ wine’, and the main draw card of the space is the bar.

The view for visitors entering the space is across the atrium to a small glass vessel - a themed meeting room, then beyond to the Open Plan. There are no security lines, which gives a sense of inclusion and transparency for the guest. The entry space flows through to the Reception, Bar and Staff Hub. Stunning harbour and city views complement the reception and bar joinery, which is representative of the Brancott Estate ridgeline. The bar shelving is simple and flexible to allow the display to be re-configured for the changing campaigns.

The meeting suite is stepped back from the exterior of the building allowing a pathway with interesting vistas through the atriums whilst still ensuring the rooms receive good natural light.

Careful consideration was given to the acoustics knowing that the fitout was predominantly open plan and shared two common atriums with tenants on adjacent floors. Quilted fabric wraps the partition behind reception and hanging baffles visually lead people through the space whilst providing a secondary sound absorber.

Plant and Food Research

Plant & Food Research engaged Creative Spaces to design the interior for the Cunningham Building. The historic Art Deco building located in the centre of the Mt Albert site opened in 1939 and is the oldest building on campus. The Cunningham was deprived of spaces that encouraged interaction which lead the design team to convert the outdated office and storage spaces into a new social hub, allowing staff collaboration and fusion in an optimal environment. Being a New Zealand government owned Crown Research Institute, the budget required careful consideration. The budget restrictions were a positive challenge, allowing us to keep ideas concise and focused on our client’s needs.

The renovations gave an opportunity to strip back the interior to its original structure, exposing ‘the bones of the building’. The ground floor is now home to an externally managed café, staff kitchen and collaborative meeting areas. Level one holds more formal meeting spaces and is connected to the main office building with a covered pedestrian bridge. The eclectic mix of modular furniture creates flexibility for social, formal meeting and dining areas. Salvaged science cabinetry & equipment from old laboratories has been repurposed in new custom joinery units that divide the space creating different zones. Strategically placed pendant lighting and geometric motifs in carpet tile design also define the mix of collaborative areas.

The buzzing culture of the café hub has converted the Cunningham from being a dull office space into a lively work environment – it truly has become ‘the heart’ of the campus.

Rolls Royce Motor Cars

Showcasing for the finest in automotive craftsmanship, the new Rolls-Royce showroom in the heart of the Newmarket prestige vehicle retail precinct required a high standard of finish and attention to detail that is representative of the brand.

Creative Spaces worked closely with Rolls-Royce to produce a showroom that realized the best opportunities offered by the location while also fulfilling the requirements of our New Zealand client. The Rolls-Royce worldwide brand identity standards formed the basis for the look and feel of the showroom. These were then crafted into a design that responded to the unique spatial layout provided by the building shell.   

Imported natural limestone finishes to walls and floor provide a subdued and elegant backdrop, while a tensioned ceiling of translucent film, lit from above by three hundred light fittings, bathe the vehicles on display in a seamless wash of light. A customer lounge provides a place to relax on the finest hand woven carpet and leather furniture surrounded by Walnut veneer wall displays.

Creative Spaces provided full design and build services, managing all suppliers and contractors to provide our client with a single point of contact and the assurance that the showroom would be completed to the exacting standards required by Rolls-Royce, all in time for a fixed grand opening date.

Team McMillan BMW

The Team McMillan BMW project comprised a significant extension and refurbishment of the existing building, incorporating a new showroom with mezzanine office accommodation. Creative Spaces’ scope involved full architectural, interior design and project management services.

A staged approach allowed continued operation of the facility during construction. Refurbishment included new facades, roof finishes, reconfigured interior spaces and new interior fitout and finishes. Louvres were installed to control heat build-up whilst still accommodating the penetration of natural light deep into the double-volume space. A new retail concept store was also delivered as part of the project. Substantial upgrade of building services was incorporated with the design for sales, administration and service offices including new lighting, power, voice/data and mechanical services.