Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country
Swanston Central Tenancy 3, Upper Mezzanine
160 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053

Visiting our office? Enter at 168 Victoria Street, Carlton

We respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which Foreground Architecture meets and works, and pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. Our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan demonstrates our commitment to First Nations recongnition and reconcilation.

Future studio

By Greg Anson | 28 September 2022

COVID-19 has made everyone think differently about how they live and work.

A hybrid workplace was certainly something we had been contemplating before the virus appeared, but it was the lockdowns of 2020 that would crystallise what was essential to our future practice.

For five months during the pandemic, between office leases, our team worked almost entirely remotely, with just a small, temporary office in the city to house our server and the odd meeting. As entire industries shifted to online, news media questioned whether the shared workplace was dead. We disagreed. Given the highly collaborative nature of built environment design, we knew that – when the time was right – it would be important for us to return to some semblance of a studio. What this would look like would be up for discussion.

Five staff members and whippet dog relax, work and chat in office lounge space

In choosing a new premises, we wanted a location that would be easy for staff to get to, and with features that would draw them to return. Like most of today’s workplaces, ours would need to “earn the commute,” offering staff more than just a computer and a desk. But before we made any big decisions, we surveyed our team to find out what they were looking for.

Whippet dog lounges on couch with leafy indoor plants behind

One major learning from the September 2021 New Studio Survey was the amount of time and flexibility our people needed to care for loved ones, be they children, partners or elderly parents. While deadline and milestone pressures would remain largely inflexible, we knew that a blanket 9-5 arrangement would not sustain our team’s productivity over the longer term. As borne out in the most recent ACA Pulse Check, staff wanted more flexibility – the finer details of which would need to be tailored to individual requirements. And yet, this would never come at the expense of their shared desire for connection. Our team still sought a supportive and collaborative work environment, with opportunities for mentoring, social connection with colleagues, and for face-to-face networking with the broader architectural and business communities.

At the time of the survey, our leadership team was undertaking a complete re-evaluation of our practice vision and values. To chart the course for a company rebrand, we needed to set a communications tone that would match our agreed priorities. A physical studio wish list gave us clues as to the type of culture our people were seeking. The space would need to encourage collaboration and sociability, rejecting unnecessary hierarchy in its design. Staff wellbeing and ESD features were championed unanimously, confirming our slated company tagline: “For people and planet.”

While hot-desking has proven a popular workplace phenomenon in other practices and workplace sectors, our staff were split on this preference in the 2021 survey. Many wanted their own desk – albeit with more COVID-safe distances between stations. Others, like the Directors, preferred to roam, setting up in the shared lounge or at an available desk when not working remotely. Breakouts, quiet zones, hybrid meeting spaces: a multiplicity of environments now support the seamless transition between solo and collaborative tasks. Supporting mode-switching and adaptability is a natural evolution of the flatter, less-siloed structural plan we explored in our North Melbourne studio upgrade a decade earlier. Meanwhile, the respect we paid to the heritage features of the former CUB Counting House demonstrates to staff the value we pursue every day in our craft.

Two staff sit at table in breakout meeting area next to bookshelf and office desks. Another women approaches.

A climbing monstera plant creeps up plaster wall with brick wall in background

Our new Victoria Street premises is awash with natural light, well ventilated and rapidly filling with plants – three of the most common requests in the staff survey. Better acoustics ranked high on the wish list, too, so our fit-out team went to exceptional lengths to dampen noise within and between all areas. As a good designer or architect knows, a more sociable program need not mean higher levels of disruption.

On average, our staff work in the studio three to four days a week, and those who prefer three days need to include a Monday or a Friday in that period. With those days the quietest in the city in 2022, we see our workplace model playing its modest part in the reactivation of Melbourne CBD. And with so many of our clients returning to be based here, a move to the city fringe has structurally supported the strength of our service-based approach.

Yellowtrace roll stands up on a desk next to a mouse, computer, coffee cup and pens

Now, more than ever, we know a supportive workplace is the key to true work/life balance. The valuing of staff and the successful design of the modern workplace has become inseparable from a well-run business. We are thrilled to welcome our team to Victoria Street, renewed in our clarity of collaboration and purpose, and with purpose-built facilities to match.

Learn more about the new Foreground Architecture studio.

Photography: Blue Tree Studios

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