Any company listed on the New York Stock Exchange knows there is a temptation to show off their business personality by selecting state-of-the-art office digs.

Giving in to that temptation is what the $US 2.7 billion ($3.08 billion) technology company AECOM has done with its space in Leighton Properties’ North Tower building in Brisbane, opened by Lord Mayor Campbell Newman yesterday.

BVN Architecture, which has previously designed National Australia Bank’s Docklands headquarters in Melbourne and Stockland’s headquarters in Sydney, has created the fitout by focusing on human psychology that aims to bring employees out of their shell.

BVN principal David Kelly says: “We have deliberately designed the workplace to almost force people to meet new people and encourage casual interaction or what we call the ‘bump’ factor – the meetings that occur on the stairs.

“Historically, AECOM is a collection of different brands and companies and while there has been a merging of all these backgrounds it has been a challenge to make a connection between the groups.”

The final product – AECOM has five floors covering 13,600 square metres – is far from classical architecture.

Kelly says that from BVN’s point of view “we eschew stylistic convention”.
Instead, the concept of “connectivity” draws somewhat on Finnish architect Alvar Aalto’s design sensitivities to the human form.

“By making the diversity of operations visible there are opportunities for cross-pollination and new synergies,” says Kelly.

Building staircases in the central areas between floors has been done before but each flight of stairs in this building is horizontally shifted from the next, which lures travelers into each floor’s workplace on the way up or down.

AECOM services director Frank Carlow says the attempt to change the way people work is happening already.

“This has changed the way people behave,” he says. “They are showing their real personality and we are starting to see who they really are.”

The fit-out has two enormous atriums at either side which bring in natural light. One of them could confuse viewers into thinking they were outside, with its ample foliage and fake grass.

On the fake grass there are impractical yellow stools that would not reach a grown man’s knee.

“One day one person said to me they would never sit on them and now you see one two besides their desk,” Carlow says.

While it might seem extravagant to an outsider, the features such as the stools and the artworks and the funky wallpaper are all part of bringing people out of their comfort zone into another one.

“It’s not about cost; it’s about an investment,” Carlow says.
Leighton Contractors northern region general manager Darren Weir says that from a design and construction perspective the North Tower’s fit-out was state of the art.

“It ticks all the boxes in terms of both sustainability and user comfort, owing to features like 50 per cent more fresh air than normal office buildings, the use of low volatile organic compound fittings and water efficiency measures such as rainwater harvesting and water-efficient fixtures,” he says.

“Leighton Contractors prides itself on being the leading group in sustainable building in Queensland and these sustainability features will make a solid contribution to the saleability of the building,” Weir says.