Victoria Legal Aid

Around 550 Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) workers were brought together under one roof across three floors at 570 Bourke Street, over a year-long transition from various CBD locations that also marked a desired cultural change and opportunity for teams to work better together through proximity.

VLA managing director Bevan Warner said: “We wanted to give staff the flexibility to step away from their desks during sensitive calls, and opportunities to connect with colleagues with different skills who they may not see but could help them to better help our clients. It was also important to create an environment that is warm but professional for our staff working in the high pressure environment of the justice system every day.”

The new supported open-plan office was designed to offer a more welcoming environment to both clients and staff by replacing the imposing walled offices and intimidating corridors with vibrant cafe-style spaces, collaborative work areas, quiet zones and meeting “cubbies” and booths.

More formal meeting rooms were also an essential part of the design for when client confidentiality and privacy is required.

Victoria Legal Aid hopes its upgraded work environment will create a more social workplace culture and overturn the traditional hierarchy of the legal fraternity by literally breaking down the walls.

To avoid any workplace culture shock with the shift to a new open way of working and to get the design right to meet all of VLA’s needs, a staff consultation process comprised of workshops and needs analysis interviews was undertaken before the design and build began.

“Their Victoria Legal Aid project team understood that the outcomes of the pre-design workshops were the most important part of the project and they set time aside for it, got people on board and got them to commit to the process,” said Gray Puksand interior designer and partner Heidi Smith.

The sunlit focal point of the office is a central 10-storey glass atrium with a stairway between floors.

Health and well-being of staff was a prime consideration with the addition of standing desks and plenty of natural light filling the office and access to two roof decks.

Project Details

Project size – 8,751 m2
Completion Date – 2018

Project Details

Architecture and Interior Design

Gray Puksand

Gray Puksand is a leading Australian architecture and integrated design practice with studios in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. They create places of integrity designed to improve the way people work, learn and live.

www.graypuksand.com.au

Photography

Tatjana Plitt

Tatjana is an award-winning artist and architecture/interiors photographer based in Melbourne. She completed her Bachelor of Media Arts at RMIT University and has exhibited her work throughout Australia and internationally.

Inspired by the power of architecture to shape how we feel, think and behave, Tatjana creates images that capture the mood and emotion of spaces.

www.tatjanaplitt.com