Space by Thynk

Felix Mooneeram

• Interior Designers

A premium showroom space with the largest range of Australia's trusted finishes and fixtures brands. Curated for individuals, home builders, architects and designers to select every finish and fixture for their home build - from outside to inside.

X+O’s response to the brief was to use the architecture of the showroom to create zones that reflect the layout of the home. Thus creating a relatable and inspiring context for clients to make their selections from. The zone layout mimics the construction phases of a home, guiding customers through the items that they need to select first - from exterior to interior. Customers are guided through each zone by a highly trained designer, equipped with digital tools to help select, visualise and record their selections.

photo_credit Felix Mooneeram — Felix Mooneeram

Digital tools were incorporated to enhance the customer journey such as the Taubmans digital 'create your own paint' tool. An ‘endless aisles’ strategy for an extended product range, QR codes for extra information and CRM tools will be incorporated in phase 2.

Prior to launching, Space by Thynk secured commitments from the most well known and loved premium brands in Australia for display and tenanted space. Numerous trusted project home builders have engaged Space by Thynk exclusively for the selection processes to their clients.

This new experience is located in the same building, one level above the Gold Winner of the Driven x Design 2020 ‘showrooms and flagships’ finishes experience centre by Thynk and designed by X+O.

What was the brief?

The client’s vision for Space by Thynk was to create a premium one stop shop with the largest range of trusted brands for home builders, architects and designers to select every finish and fitting for the home that they were creating. Showcasing the most well known brands in the industry, the environment was to become part showroom, part consultation and part workspace. The 700m2 space was to include: exterior building finishes, interior finishes / fittings including bathroom, kitchen, fire place and air conditioning and an outdoor lifestyle area. The space needed to attract high calibre brands to display and potentially become tenants with the available workspaces on site, in order to maximise the client’s return on investment.

What were the solutions?

X+O’s response to the brief was to create an easy to navigate space that feels premium yet approachable. The main concept was that the architecture was to create zones that reflect the layout of the home, in order to create a relatable context for clients. Structures inside each zone were designed to act as a blank canvas allowing a variety of different brands to showcase and ‘hero’ their products. Each area was designed with consistent structure and signage, like a department store. This strategy was employed to declutter the space and create an easy to navigate environment.

Selection and specification of finishes for an entire home both inside and out can be very daunting – even for the most experienced. It was imperative that the customer journey was broken down into bite sized chunks, through the architecture and expert customer service, so that customers feel confident, not overwhelmed when making their selections. The zones created by X+O reflect a house but also mimic the construction phases of a home. Thus guiding customers through the items that they need to select first. Starting with the exterior, followed by the interior structures (i.e. walls, floor finishes etc), interior fittings (i.e. bathroom and kitchen) finishing off with the outdoor lifestyle area (i.e. pergolas). The zones created were named: exterior world, interior world and outdoor world. Customers are guided through each zone by a highly trained designer, equipped with digital tools to help select, visualise and record their selections.

Within each ‘world’ a matrix of zones were developed to facilitate different product displays, for example some products required walls, others shelves or tables. These were allocated based on site lines with tables at the front, and built up taller with walls in the back so that sight lines were not obstructed. With careful space planning, brands requiring a tenanted office were placed on the outer perimeter with consultation areas / work spaces directly opposite their displays.

Each display took cues from a real life element in the home – some of which include hero basins with a small bathroom display, hero bricks and doors on the façade for up-sell. The fixtures on the floor were cleverly designed to maximise capacity with pull out drawers and displays to create a dense multilayered effect. This enabled brands to show a large range of their product whilst highlighting hero product. Additional items were available digitally vis the allocated design consultants via an ‘endless aisles’ strategy. Capacity was one of the largest challenges with this project – where the client wanted Space by Thynk to showcase one of the largest ranges of brand and products available under one roof.

This new experience is located above the Gold Winner of the Driven x Design 2020 ‘showrooms and flagships’ finishes experience centre by Thynk and designed by X+O.

What were the key challenges?

Capacity and navigation were the largest challenges with this project.

The client wanted Space by Thynk to showcase one of the largest ranges of brand and products available under one roof. The fixtures on the floor were cleverly designed to maximise capacity with pull out drawers and displays to create a dense multilayered effect. This enabled brands to show a large range of their product whilst highlighting hero product. Additional items were available digitally vis the allocated design consultants via an ‘endless aisles’ strategy.

Navigation was addressed through clever zoning and very thoughtful space planning. Utilising fixtures signage, floor finishes to define zones and a layout that reflected the construction stages of a house, starting from outside to inside, made it easier and more understandable for customers to navigate the journey and space. The zones made the journey feel less overwhelming as the selections were provided in segments – blocking out the remaining areas allowing customers to focus on one area at a time.

What are the sustainability features?

X+O approached this design solution by focusing on reducing waste by designing a flexible space for longevity.

By utilising the actual products on display in order to create the display where possible, over usage of un-necessary materials was enabled. This included using hero brick, façade claddings, windows etc to create walls and areas of display. Where possible, fixtures were designed to be moveable so that the showroom could be easily reconfigured rather than demolished each time a new product was incorporated. Similarly the display walls were all designed to be ‘neutral’ sand interchangeable so that categories could easily move around if needed without the need to embark on a full new construction, hence reducing future waste. All existing ceiling and flooring was left exposed, and new finishes applies only to aid navigation. Energy efficient lighting and low VOC and recycled materials were used used throughout.