Ahead, perhaps, of many large corporations in its thinking around workplace design, Auckland Council is in the process of moving into ultra-modern offices, whose format is based on the fundamentals of the Council’s values and new workplace strategy.

Following the merger of Auckland’s former eight councils, and at the forefront of the workplace strategy, was the need to provide a cohesive environment across the new, much-larger organisation and create a sense of ‘oneness’.

These fundamental drivers (flexibility, cohesion and enablement) have itinerated themselves in the new design in various ways. Andrew Tu’inukuafe, design director at Creative Spaces says the new fit-out will push the boundaries of modern office space. On many floors, people will outnumber desks and no one will have an allocated space.

When the Council opted to purchase the 29-storeyed tower at 135 Albert Street and reduce its inner-city building stock from seven to three, various challenges presented themselves. Staff raised the issue of not being able to bump into each other in the new building – frequent impromptu meetings, which happened en route walking between the Council’s former buildings, were valued by a large proportion of employees – so this was factored into the design.

As such, ‘bump spaces’ were created within the verticality of the tower environment. Central to each floor’s layout is the ‘hub’ area: a flexible space adjacent to the lift lobby, which is suitable for food preparation, eating, taking a break or small meetings. Larger meeting rooms are grouped together and centralised on two floors, while, on Level 14 where the low-rise and high-rise lift shafts meet, common hub areas abound.

While the fit-out will provide a consistent feel across the 25 floors in which the Council will reside, the floors are grouped in blocks of five and themed, drawing inspiration from elements of the wider Auckland region.

Moving from the ground up, groups of floors are respectively themed earth, forest, sea, wind and sky – each group displaying a slightly different material and colour palette.

Reuse was central to the design and incorporated everything from repurposed light fittings to safety glass from the former fit-out. Worm farms on an exterior deck will be used
to compost the building’s green waste and the 5 Green Star rating the design team is aiming to achieve means the floors are filled with light; the light-coloured walls and furniture reflect natural light entering the building and draw it towards the core.