Australian workplaces are becoming more sophisticated as boundary-pushing designers innovate to serve the evolving needs of various stakeholders. Commercial interior designer and Carr associate director Catherine Keys shares some of the influences driving change in the sector and her methods for supporting collaboration, focus and flexibility.

As many workplaces around the country strive to become more inviting spaces, it stands to reason that it’s also an interesting time to be designing them. For Carr associate director Catherine Keys, who has been at the Melbourne-based architecture and interior design studio for the past two years, it’s a “exciting, competitive” sector to be in.

“There’s a lot of great designers in our field in Australia and I think we probably push each other to elevate more and more, resulting in some really great outcomes,” she tells Australian Design Review.

Carr associate director Catherine Keys. Photo: Gavin Green

Carr’s award-winning workplace projects

Keys’ team were victors in a recent bout of healthy competition, taking home the top prize at the 2024 Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in the Workplace Over 1000sqm category, sponsored by MillerKnoll. Carr’s winning project, Aesop’s Australian headquarters, encapsulated the skincare giant’s ritualistic and restrained brand identity, meaningfully transposing it from a retail to a workplace setting.

Aesop’s Australian headquarters by Carr took out the IDEA 2024 Workplace Over 1000sqm award, sponsored by MillerKnoll. Photo: Peter Bennetts

Last year also saw Keys successfully deliver a calm and collaborative fitout for Melbourne law firm Russell Kennedy. Her team followed this up in 2025 with new offices for the likes of Kokoda Property and publisher Hardie Grant, which reference everything from high-end residential and hospitality to the nostalgic comfort of a library.

This recent portfolio alone reflects the shapeshifting nature of contemporary workplace design. 

“I’m a big believer in starting each project fresh and that one size doesn’t fit all,” Keys says. “There are always differences, and there are differences between industries, but I do think there are some bigger trends that are general across what’s happening in workplace design at the moment and where I think things are going.”

Carr delivered a calm and collaborative fitout for Melbourne law firm Russell Kennedy. Photo: Tom Blachford

What’s out in workplace design?

Some of the old pillars of workplace design have fallen out of favour to make way for emerging trends.

“It’s definitely less about the desk,” Keys explains. “Desks will always be here, I don’t think that’s going to entirely change, but certainly the ratio of how we design spaces has changed.”

According to Keys, workplaces typically used to adhere to a 1:10 ratio (one person per ten square metres), with a large number of workstations to match. Keys says the ratio is now more often 1:14, freeing up more expansive space for social connection.

“Offices are a big question mark as well,” she adds. “Like with desks, they won’t entirely go, and there are some companies who are maybe going back to them even a little bit more, but I think for the majority, companies are reducing office numbers and when they do have them it’s not that premium corner office on the facade with the best views.” 

The Russell Kennedy office gives over much of its floorplan to expansive social areas. Photo: Tom Blachford

Russell Kennedy “massively reduced” the number of offices in its fitout. The offices they did keep were in-board and modular, designed to sit alongside quiet rooms so that two quiet rooms could be swapped back to one office and vice versa, depending on the future needs of the firm.

Another passing fad Keys notes is “amenity for amenity’s sake”. 

“The big trend of pool tables, slides and gimmicky things like that in the workplace I think has definitely well and truly left us,” she says.

Designing for meaningful social connection

In place of frivolous amenity, better design decisions are supporting more “meaningful” connection in workplaces, according to Keys. 

Almost a whole floor of Russell Kennedy’s four-floor stack is dedicated to spaces for both staff and client collaboration, including expansive training rooms, a cafe and a library. An interconnecting stair also spans the breakout spaces on all four levels, encouraging movement and chance encounters.

A stair spanning all four levels of the Russell Kennedy office encourages movement and chance encounters. Photo: Tom Blachford

“When you know people better, you can get more out of each other and push forward,” Keys says.

Meanwhile, for Kokoda Property’s Melbourne office, Carr took a unique approach that would not necessarily suit other clients. The luxury property developer had a really strong focus on hospitality and meeting with clients and staff over bar and dining areas. 

“It’s a more relaxed way to interact with people and immerse them in your world too,” Keys explains.

At Kokoda Property’s Melbourne office, staff and clients meet over bar and dining areas. Photography: Timothy Kaye

Carr has just completed Hardie Grant’s Melbourne office, which had a different vision all over again. The publisher wanted its new space to recreate the feeling you get when you walk into a library or bookstore.

“It was about bringing together the different arms of their business – digital and print publication – by really showing off as soon as you arrive what they do,” Keys says.

Hardie Grant wanted its staff, authors and other collaborators to feel at home in the immersive, bookstore-like environment.

“We’ve seen photos of people sitting on the rugs and working at the coffee tables – that sort of feel that you wouldn’t do in another office,” Keys says.

Getting the balance right

It can be quite subjective how much respite is needed from a bustling and social workplace environment, says Keys. Some people thrive, while others require privacy to focus.

“Providing the right balance of spaces can be a challenge,” Keys says.

One solution that has surged in popularity post-pandemic is the pod. These small mobile rooms provide opportunities for workers to retreat, close the door and knuckle down. Among all the options currently on the market, Keys says her pod of choice is the Bay Work Pod by Herman Miller.

“What I like about the Bay Work Pod when compared with other pods is it reads more like a furniture item within space,” she says. “When I don’t love the pods is when they compete with our built form.”

The Bay Work Pod by Herman Miller does not compete with the built form, according to Catherine Keys

The Bay Work Pod achieves this through a softness of form and materiality. Its rounded corners and corrugated fabric exterior are not only appealing aesthetically, but cut down on noise pollution both inside and outside the pod. With a skylight, frosted glass door and a discrete fan providing air circulation inside, the Bay Work Pod maintains a connection with the broader context. 

The design of the Bay Work Pod maintains a connection with the broader context

How the Bay Work Pod promotes inclusivity and flexibility

The Bay Work Pod also helps to promote inclusivity. A flat level entry enables a smooth egress in, while users with reduced mobility can “really grip” onto the pod’s expressed handle.

The Bay Work Pod’s accessible design incorporates a flat-level entry and an expressed handle

“I love that the larger one has area for a turning circle for users in a wheelchair, which is super important and often overlooked,” Keys adds. 

The Bay Work Pod provides a different sensory environment through its materiality and reduced noise levels, which helps to cater to neurodiversity in the workplace. Users also have choices to control their environment through dimmable light switches and an optional occupancy indicator.

The Bay Work Pod allows users to control their sensory environment

“It provides those spaces of respite, but it does so in a way that gives you flexibility to shift and change it as well,” Keys adds. 

The joy of contemporary workplace design

Workplace design can be a fast-moving beast. For Keys, her power to “change people’s lives quite dramatically” keeps her professional passion ignited.

“I think people maybe don’t know how much of an influence a well-designed workplace has on them until they experience a space custom-designed for them,” she says.

Learn more about the Bay Work Pod by Herman Miller here.

Bay Work Pod renders supplied by MillerKnoll.