Two-thirds of the way down Bourke Street, in the pulsing professional services and finance heart of Melbourne’s central business district, you’ll find a robust brutalist office tower. Amid a sea of concrete, glass and steel towers that reach skyward like exalted totems of commerce, 500 Bourke Street stands out for two reasons. Firstly, it is one of the few high-quality, mid-1970s brutalist office towers remaining in the area. Secondly, through a recently completed adaptive reuse project that embraced the original architect’s vision, it has been transformed into a contemporary expression of Australia.

Designed by Godfrey and Spowers, the 36-storey tower was built in 1977 for a single tenant — the National Australia Bank (NAB). As the needs of NAB changed, they relocated, and in 1998, 500 Bourke Street was acquired by property fund manager ISPT, becoming a multi-tenant tower. 

All buildings go through different phases throughout their lifespan.  As tenants change or the needs of occupants evolve, interior design styles ebb and flow and planning, regulation and compliance legislation respond to shifts in the makeup of a city and the environment, inevitably, a building built in 1977 will not be the same today as it was the day it opened.

What makes FK’s large-scale refurbishment of 500 Bourke Street shine among the cacophony of the city is the design approach taken by FK partner and head of design Nicky Drobis and her team. “When I first met the client here [in the lobby] in 2019 it looked very different,” recalls Drobis during a recent tour with Australian Design Review. 

“The first thing I said to our client representative was, ‘I love this building’. I don’t know how many other people even saw the building for what it was because over the years the original era of the building had almost been disguised.”

Structurally, it features four impressive, angled perimeter columns, seamlessly connected by band beams. This design forms a central core configuration with a suspended slab extending to the columns. “What is also significant is that this is the second project that Arup Engineering did in Australia, the first being the Sydney Opera House,” Drobis says. It’s a really terrific bit of structure and part of Australia’s design history.”

Today, the monochromatic colour palette, polished stone and complex fretted awnings of the 2000s are a thing of the past. The previously closed-off ground plane, which kept the outside world at bay, has been opened up to create a space that feels warm, inviting and surprisingly intimate despite its vast open expanse. 

The feeling of concurrent openness and intimacy has been achieved principally through inserting floor-to-ceiling glazing along the western and eastern sides, and the deft placement of agile seating and working arrangements which feature 80 perfect Australian-designed and manufactured furniture. To the west, sightlines to the 1862 John Gill heritage bluestone building connect 500 Bourke Street to Melbourne’s heritage; to the east, an open-air courtyard that runs the length of the wall provides a rare inner city oasis with its verdant green wall.

Reimagining the ground plane as a space for connection between people and the rich cultural fabric of Bourke Street itself, all while using the central core as the nexus around which all the other elements flow, has resulted in a unique, highly desirable commercial asset, replete with a beautiful hospitality offering and an end of trip facility that rivals some of the best private gyms and wellness spaces. 

It is a building and a space people genuinely want to be in. Over the hour that ADR spent touring through the building with Drobis, every zone was in use. One group, huddled around laptops, coffee close at hand, appeared not to have moved. And why would you when your workspace has been so thoughtfully designed to be comfortable, inspiring and calming, with the convenience of integrated technology at your fingertips? 

Creating a space of ease that fosters community was one of the core design objectives for Drobis and her team. “There’s 45,000 square meters of accommodation up there,” says Drobis with awe, gesturing her hands towards the soaring ceilings that are 5,765mm above finished floor level. “The client knew that there was never going to be a single tenant or even a super scale tenant again as the way of working has changed a lot in recent years. They knew that they would have a whole village of tenants. This changed the function of the building. It had to be one that was around community building and engagement.”

To achieve the seemingly impossible feat of transforming a gleaming office tower lobby – originally designed to feel exclusive – into an inclusive space where tenants genuinely want to linger, Drobis and her team drew inspiration from the naturally warm, earthy qualities of Australia and the rigid linear structure of the tower. Spotted gum timber has been used throughout the building as a unifying hero material to build and layer texture and colour. It is at its most striking and well articulated on the soaring ceilings. Thick golden beams arranged in a waffle-like grid – the pattern distilled from the proportional grid of the tower structure – stretch from edge to edge, imbuing the space with a sun-bathed forest quality. 

This quality is further enhanced by the incorporation of native planting at the rear of the lobby, which punctuates a stepped theatre-style break-out zone that leads up to a zen-like studio. The lush green of the courtyard shimmers through the glazing, complemented by the exceptionally well-executed lighting design. 

“When you have a feature ceiling, you obviously want some level of up-lighting so that it’s highlighted,” Drobis says. “However, we were very cognisant not to include any fixtures within the space that felt unfamiliar to the era of the building. Large surface-mounted can lights are integrated into the design to gently illuminate the space below. The up-lighting solution is a series of fixtures by Ewo, recommended by our lighting consultant, Aurecon. A little like a scaled-up version of a residential floor lamp, we’ve positioned them strategically throughout the middle of the space, which allowed us to avoid mounting off the walls, which I’m very pleased with because it keeps the central core really clear,” Drobis explains.

In addition to keeping the core clear and uncluttered by unnecessary adornments – an adherence to Brutalist design principles – the placement and scale of the matt black floor lamps enhance the intimate feeling of the space. Jardan’s plush, friendly furniture pieces cluster around each one. Their wide circular tops create a small but not insignificant canopy feel. It is these sorts of gestures and considerations that FK and Drobis are known for. Yes, they’re designing for their client, but ultimately they are designing for the people who will use these spaces daily. 

This community focus, overlaid with dual lenses of Australia’s unique natural environment and architectural heritage, unifies FK’s considered adaptations to Godfrey and Spowers’ original design. Despite the fundamentally cold, almost anti-human brutalist DNA, Drobis and her team have infused 500 Bourke with an intrinsically human quality. The result is the reinvigoration of an icon and a masterclass in elemental interior design that embodies people and place. 

Photography: Willem-Dirk du Toit

Discover another impressive FK project, Crystalbrook Hotel, Canberra