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Overview
Today, the home of Escala Partners became one of three finalists in the ‘Corporate’ interior design awards of ‘Belle’ magazine.
The winners of the awards, which celebrate excellence in Australian interior design and decoration, will be announced at a champagne reception on May 14 at Coco Republic’s Alexandria, Sydney, showroom. Winning designers and their work will be published in Belle’s June/July 2014 issue.
Below is an excerpt from Molecule’s blog, outlining the completion of the Escala Partners project:
Escala Partners is a fresh presence in Australia’s wealth management landscape. As the physical outworking of their brand and business, the new headquarters in Melbourne’s Collins Street are a distinctive, game-changing affair in which quality, care and market differentiation pervade every space and surface.
Dispelling the sterility of the commercial office typology, we sought to treat the firm’s clients uncommonly well and so looked to social venues for inspiration; the project reimagines the cloistered clubs of mid-century Manhattan, when doing business was a glamorous act and a handshake sealed a deal.
The arranged marriage of corporate and hospitality types allowed a new spatial paradigm: a blurry ‘between’ zone featuring bar, barista and lounge that dissolves the expected separation of clients (front-of-house) and staff (back-of-house), allowing views and access across the floor plate.
A finely executed paint detail abstracts the coffered ceilings and wainscot panelling of historical interiors, while a cohesive palette of materials that hover in time affords an immersive, transportative experience, but very definitely not a stage set.
The project heralds a new benchmark in professional services environments and workplace design, suggesting that work is meant to be enjoyed and conversations about money – even stressful ones – can happen in the presence of beauty.
