The Adelaide-based architecture and interior design studio needed a new office that reflected its open-arms approach to the architecture community. Inspiration came from an unlikely source, writes Liam Heitmann-Ryce-LeMercier.

When looking for a new home to house their professional practice – as well as embody their unique creative philosophy – Studio Gram found just what they were looking for in an old auto repair shop.

A family-run business tracing its roots back to 1978, Bowden Motor Repairs provided the perfect template for Studio Gram to set up shop. Embracing the industrial materiality and raw functionality of its blue-collar history, as well as the unimpeded space provided by the shop floor, the newly designed HQ offers ample opportunity for guests to mix with team members.

At its heart, Studio Gram is grounded in collaboration and needed a space which would facilitate this invitational working practice. More than just an office, the new studio therefore had to be a showroom for prospective clients while also hosting industry events and creative thinktanks.

For Studio Gram director Graham Charbonneau, the brief was simple: the new office needed to be “a living, breathing extension of our practice – both a workshop and a sanctuary. Equal parts functional and expressive, it’s a place where ideas can percolate, evolve and be shared.”

‘The vision was never just about desks and meeting rooms’

Charbonneau led the project in tandem with his co-director Dave Bickmore. Designing for themselves came with “both complete freedom and brutal honesty”, Charbonneau says. 

“It challenged us to be more resourceful, more rigorous – and to back ourselves. It reminded us that constraint can be an incredible catalyst, and that even small gestures can carry great meaning.”

Left to right: Studio Gram co-directors Graham Charbonneau and Dave Bickmore. Photo: Jonathan van der Knaap

Completed last July with construction company Build Inc and furniture supplier Remington Matters, the office revolved around a unique approach to shared work space. It had to succeed as an incubator for team engagement and artistic growth.

“The vision was never just about desks and meeting rooms, it was always about creating a home for Studio Gram,” Charbonneau says. “A place that could hold space for the way we work now, and the way we hope to work in the future.”

Bickmore and Charbonneau wanted to embed wellness into the fabric of their studio space. Achieving such an ambitious, abstract design principle is due in part to company mindset, where the working day could “shift into event mode for yoga, talks or shared meals,” Charbonneau says. “Moments that invite connection beyond the work itself.”

Outside of that, Studio Gram’s wellness initiative, Groundwork, is magnifying this ambition.

“We’re creating space for rest, reflection and care within our team, and the wider design community,” Charbonneau says. “This studio is the first step – a physical opportunity to deliver on our belief.”

Studio Gram’s in-residence program

It is fair to say that Studio Gram is as good as its word, accommodating an in-residence program that will open the studio space to creatives from a wide variety of disciplines and experience. The intended outcome of welcoming industries beyond design and architecture is a cross-pollination between art and education, fostering creative dialogue within the artistic and professional community.

The initial stages of the program will cater toward students seeking creative-oriented workspaces, granting them free access to a desk, the onsite library and the all-important coffee machine, as well as regular invites to the events and conversations which, Charbonneau assures, will define the studio as a whole.

“In time, the program will expand to include anyone doing meaningful work, such as designers, writers, artists or simply someone who wants to contribute to a collaborative community. Applications are informal, keeping things flexible and open to the people and ideas that emerge,” he says.

The push behind opening the door to students and young professionals is a response to the pressures of the design and architecture industry, where networking and relationship-building occupy just as significant a place as artistic vision and technical training.

Opening doors between disciplines

The adaptable space of the new studio welcomes these opportunities to meet and converse, both with existing colleagues and new connections. Open-channel doorways flood into the large ground-floor work space, inviting casual cappuccino debriefs or a quick breather on the relaxed wooden furniture.

Charbonneau has high hopes for the new office space to become a catalyst for bringing people and ideas together. 

“Adelaide’s design community is thriving. Diverse, engaged and full of quiet talent,” he says. “Unfortunately, it can often be inwardly focused and guilty of gatekeeping ideas.”

The guiding principle of Studio Gram, as they make their next outward steps in the sunlit two-floor head office at 68 Chief Street, is to nurture their own talent as well as divine for fresh springs.

As Charbonneau asserts, “We hope our studio becomes a place that brings people together, elevates creative dialogue, and makes space for the kind of collaboration and experimentation that helps the whole community grow.”

From the smallest seeds sprout the tallest trees, and so Bickmore and Charbonneau have helmed a creative canopy under which Studio Gram can contribute to the broader cultural and creative landscape.

Project photography by Timothy Kaye.

Related: View Studio Gram’s recent work on Coopers Brewery.