Swanbury Penglase Office, 214 Gilbert Street, Adelaide

Our business is all about our people as well as for those who come together on our projects to create and innovate.

It was important for us to create a comfortable space for our staff and an inviting space for our clients. Staff spoke about the need for our new home to celebrate what we stand for; it needed to be transparent, authentic and collaborative. These aspirational objectives became the key project drivers to be translated and reflected in the built form.

Located on the first floor, the studio is welcoming and flexible, supporting the collocation of multidisciplinary project teams, allowing a collaborative approach to each project, interconnecting our architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and heritage teams. Open and transparent, all areas of the space are connected with support spaces such as meeting rooms, library and bespoke niches for ad-hoc meetings or individual work. Visual connections across the spaces and to the neighbouring streets are celebrated. The break/lunch area, while visually linked is physically independent from the studio and provides a destination for staff to step away from their workspace and connect with each other, visitors and the surroundings.

Externally, the shell is a complex, distinctive and robust combination of concrete and exposed steelwork, in contrast to the more refined materiality and warmth of the interior spaces. However, there is a design ideology that ties together the outside and the inside; this speaks of authenticity and the design confidence Swanbury Penglase has built over the past thirty years. The thoughtful detailing throughout creates a timeless design aesthetic and enables the interior and the exterior to express a common character.

Our new studio confidently and proudly celebrates our values, but most importantly, is a true reflection of the people who work here.