Global independent publishing and media business Hardie Grant required a new office that mirrored its focus on creativity and collaboration.

Designed by Carr with timelessness front of mind, Hardie Grant’s new office in Collingwood, Melbourne, serves as a celebration of storytelling and creativity.

With accents of colour and varied spaces for both pause and collaboration, Carr’s interior design aims to take a step back to the essentials of human connection while echoing Hardie Grant’s diverse print and digital legacy.

Woven environments leading to moments of connection

Blending old and new, Carr’s design unifies Hardie Grant’s publishing, digital media and marketing arms into a cohesive yet distinguished space.

Carr was engaged by Hardie Grant during the building selection phase. Following a series of strategic briefing sessions, Hardie Grant selected T3 Collingwood, a 15-level mass timber commercial building.

Interlinking with the rich environment, Carr’s interior design approach was to limit unnecessary intervention in the pre-existing space while accentuating the personality of both Hardie Grant and the building.

Carr associate director Catherine Keys says both Carr and Hardie Grant fell in love with the potential that the T3 space and location presented.

“As a suburb, Collingwood reflects the lively and eclectic personality of Hardie Grant and its people,” Keys says. 

The workplace needed to welcome, not alienate, visitors passing through the space, from authors to digital collaborators. “It needed to be both homely and inspiring to accelerate the growth of ideas,” she says.

Upon entering, visitors are welcomed by a vibrant, open arrival where they are encouraged to make themselves at home by grabbing a book and nestling among the soft furnishings.

“We were also a bit inspired by spaces such as bookstores, libraries or cafes where you might cosy up and read a book,” Keys says. “That sort of feeling was really embodied in the space as well.”

An emphasis on urban sprawl

The deliberately low profile of the furniture and joinery, along with the considered alignment of the built environment, allows for panoramic views and natural light to envelop the space, emphasising the sprawling urban context of Collingwood.

This arrival creates a moment of immersion into Hardie Grant’s media heritage. Staff breakout and dining spaces are integrated into this space to encourage activity and cross-pollination.

A nod to legacy 

Acting as a point of transition, a library lines the corridor leading into the client-centred boardrooms. Originally tucked away in their old office, this reconfiguration of the new archive is a sentimental and strategic tribute to Hardie Grant’s legacy in print media.

According to Keys, taking something that was previously just a functional requirement for the business and bringing it to the fore was “a powerful moment”, particularly for visitors to the space.

“If you are coming through … and … shown down to the boardroom suite, you pass through the book archive and get to experience it as part of your journey throughout the space,” Keys says.

“Making sure it’s front and centre and a real celebration of everything that Hardie Grant does was important.”

A focus on versatility and discovery

A warm, neutral base palette allows tactile elements, such as the textured rugs and raw materiality, to add variation and depth while amplifying the curated print media. The expression of the timber structure and terracotta colour of the façade is reinforced by the raw MDF bookshelves, cork flooring and clay-like hues in the joinery.

Carr interior designer Kirby Humphries says the design provides opportunities for “moments of discovery”.

“Accents of colour against the neutral base palette are scattered throughout, providing points of interest to playfully guide staff and visitors around the workplace,” he says.

Versatile meeting rooms and quiet areas scatter the floor plan to accommodate a range of working styles. Affording pockets of quiet, focused respite from the busy office environment, these focus spaces are integral for Hardie Grant’s editorial team.

This deliberate floor plan is complemented by the use of residential-style furniture that permeates the space, supporting a sense of ease and comfort for both staff and visitors. Modular joinery units also allow for the possibility of flexibility and reconfiguration.

Hardie Grant head of people, brand and strategy Jacinta Hardie-Grant tells Australian Design Review that the energy poured into these design details paid off.

“That first day in our new Collingwood office was a real moment of truth – you just hold your breath, hoping the spaces you’ve envisioned actually get used,” Hardie-Grant says. “But witnessing them come alive, seeing every single area being utilised exactly as we’d intended, was truly magical.”

According to Hardie-Grant, “emerging ideas truly thrive” through in-person collaboration for a creative business like theirs.

“We needed a space that not only enabled this but also felt genuinely homely and welcoming, a place our team would be proud to bring clients, authors and even their own families and friends.”

Project photography by Tom Blachford.

Related: View Carr’s design for Aesop’s Australian Headquarters, winner of the IDEA 2024 Workplace Under 1000 Sqm category, here.