The 121H village is a physical manifestation of the Havas Group Vision: Better Together. At 121 Harrington Street, numerous agencies have been brought together under one roof in order to create a workplace where teams can work side by side, leveraging knowledge and talent across disciplines to better serve their clients. This village community promotes a culture of togetherness strengthening the culture and business values of Havas. Located within the historic ‘Bushell’s Tea’ Building on Harrington Street, the building forms part of ‘The Rocks’ heritage district and is of high state significance.
The new workplace design for Havas is respectful of the heritage envelope. Spanning five levels, the floorplates are planned predominately as open plan workspace. Enclosed spaces where required are designed as freestanding pods within the existing built environment. The introduction of cobble stone flooring within the ground floor lobby is a nod to the historical function of the space as a tea loading dock and reasserts the lobby as a laneway spanning between two buildings. It is here that the Havas experience begins with a large scale ‘H’ digital totem anchored on the ground floor plane spanning vertically 5M into the atrium space.
A shimmering concierge pod conceived in the same design language is located nearby. The laneway is softened by loose furniture settings that provide impromptu meeting spaces for staff and guests to the building. The design narrative, conceptualised by the word ‘blend’ offers dual meanings; - Culturally ‘blend’ imbues a sense of ‘what brings us together’. This is the physical manifestation of bringing together teams of people under one roof to create a village. - Symbolically ‘Blend’ also pays homage to the building’s unique history as a place of making tea and recipe creation.
This narrative has informed the positioning of social spaces, with typical floors providing refresh amenity and cold food preparation only. A much larger scale townhall / canteen on the top floor provides this as well as full-service bar, espresso machine and reheat facilities. This encourages vertical movement through the building and for staff across different levels to come together at meal times. A warm palette of finishes, rich in texture with earthly overtones are a subtle reference to various tea blends with each level afforded its own distinct palette.
Workstations are arranged in a pinwheel format to encourage organic circulation throughout the floors and are intersected by heritage tea chutes that span vertically through the levels. Focus and retreat spaces are located on alternative floors and provide respite for staff enabling more relaxed and individually focussed work styles away from the team environment. Social and collaborative spaces are supported by flexible and diverse furniture solutions that are equipped with integrated AV technology and power/USB to enable different modes of working.
Questions and Answers
What was the brief?
Havas Sydney Village by Hammond Studio was designed to create meaningful connections between people, brands and history through creativity, media and innovation.
What were the solutions?
Havas Village Sydney represents the Havas Group Vision: Better Together. At 121 Harrington Street, eight agencies have been brought together under one roof creating a vertical village where teams can leverage knowledge and talent across disciplines to better serve their clients. Located within the iconic heritage listed ‘Bushell’s Tea’ building the design is respectful of the heritage envelope. Spanning six levels, the floorplates are planned predominately as open plan workspace.
Enclosed spaces where required are designed as freestanding timber pavilions within the existing built environment. The top floor inherits the heritage pitch roof and is a shared floor facility with client spaces and central Townhall space for the agencies below. The design narrative conceptualised by the word ‘blend’ offers dual meanings: Culturally ‘blend’ imbues a sense of ‘what brings us together’ - bringing together teams of people under one roof to create a village. Symbolically ‘Blend’ also pays homage to the building’s history as a place of making tea and recipe creation. The strength and simplicity of the design narrative has informed the positioning of social, retreat and individual workspaces and is embellished by a rich palette of finishes that reference various tea blends unique to each level.
Describe why the project is an example of excellent interior design?
Havas Village has successfully merged numerous agencies from various sites across Sydney under one roof to create a bustling flagship workplace village. Existing heritage features have been carefully considered in the accommodation solution and where habitable, used as collaborative meeting spaces. Social and collaborative spaces are supported by flexible and diverse furniture solutions that are equipped with integrated AV technology and power/USB to enable different modes of working.
Workstations are arranged in a pinwheel format to encourage organic circulation throughout the floors and are intersected by heritage tea chutes that span vertically through the levels. Focus and retreat spaces are located on alternative floors and provide respite for staff enabling more relaxed and individually focussed workstyles away from the team environment. Built space, where required is zoned centrally on each floor to minimise impact on daylight penetration and clear sightlines spanning across the floor from facade to facade.
What are the sustainability features?
- Adaptive reuse of a heritage building (rather than a new build)
- The heritage nature of the building required an innovative approach to building methodologies, with built space and joinery constructed as freestanding objects with minimal connections to the heritage fabric.
- Eco-refurbishment of furniture, combined with new designer items.
- Furniture pieces were designed to be moveable and flexible, to support the varying collaboration styles of the different agencies.
- The Village is designed to create meaningful connections between people and brands through creativity, media and innovation.
- The design outcome compliments the historical function of the building while delivering a contemporary workplace for Havas.
What are the truly innovative aspects of the design of this project?
The heritage significance of the building required an innovative approach to building methodologies, with built space and joinery constructed as freestanding objects with minimal connections to the heritage fabric. The top floor stands in stark contrast to the richly textured work floors below with built space composed mainly as joinery clad partitions with sculptural bulkheads housing overhanging plants. The serene environment forms a blank canvas from which creative ideas inject colour and vibrancy.
