Intermain HQ

Specifications

Client
Intermain
Location
126-136 Bourke Rd, Alexandria , Sydney
Completion
August 18, 2020 — February 17, 2022
Services
Interiors

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Interiors

Intermain's Sydney headquarters in Alexandria represent a sharing of ideas between organisations with similarly ambitious goals for sustainability and excellence in workplace design.

Intermain is on a mission to become an industry leader in ethical and socially responsible fit-outs and refurbishments.

Approached as an experiment, the goal for Intermain’s HQ was to reimagine the typical relationship between office and factory. We focused on finding a synergy between design and sustainability through bespoke detailing that showcases the company’s capabilities and reuses offcuts and waste.

The original site was an archetypal industrial workplace defined by a large shed

for manufacturing and an adjacent office area with limited connection between the two. Despite the challenging constraints of fire regulations, BVN sought to enhance the connection between the factory floor and office by introducing a series of two-storey timber 'pods'

that house a variety of shared amenities: meeting rooms, a workshop, a sample library, a joinery design studio, and a tool shed.

Following the Pathways by Dennis Golding, a Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist from northwest NSW who was born and raised on Gadigal land (Redfern, Sydney). Golding critiques the social, political, and cultural representations of race and identity in his work that spans painting, video, photography and installation.

Following the Pathways by acclaimed artist Dennis Golding forms the backdrop to these shared spaces. Commissioned through Curatorial & Co, this 88m2 site specific mural is formed from patterned lines that reflect the pathways paved by First Nations people from the land where the Intermain building is located – the Gadigal and Bidjigal people of the Eora nation. The piece speaks to the Country where the building is located, allowing people who view the mural to connect to the land they are situated upon.

In a quest to communicate what's possible in creating more sustainable fitouts, the arrangement of spaces encourages clients and collaborators to weave through the site, telling a story of clever reuse and reimagination.

Principal Sally Campbell

A visually raw, unrefined aesthetic reveals the function of workplace at the intersection between craft and manufacturing.

Taking a no-nonsense approach to sustainability was equally important to BVN and Intermain. Finishes inherent in the building fabric were favoured over introducing additional applied finishes.

Open ceilings reveal the foil of thermal lining. Original concrete floors were polished, and fibre cement sheets serve as the structural layer and finish for the pod flooring. Timber pods are clad in reused plywood sheets, otherwise destined for landfill. Meeting room ceilings, walls and joinery are lined in cork, providing insulation and acoustic functionality. Partitions are timber framed, and joinery is designed for disassembly, enabling reuse or repurpose. Original Eames' Aluminium Group chairs were sourced second-hand, and all other furniture from the previous office was reused. The kitchen bench sits upon cleaned-up packing crates and the reception counter is laminated from a series of damaged boards.

In the six metre long mural Good to be Back by Felix Saw, the artist has captured workshop scenes celebrating Intermain's craft and their post-COVID return the workplace in a playful style.

A joint workplace winner at the 2024 Australian Interior Design Awards (AIDA), Intermain has been recognised as 'a project that truly reflects the diverse aspects of the contemporary workplace and displays a clever relationship between the studio’s own work and the craft they make'.

The project goes beyond what could have been a very basic refurbishment to become a celebration of rudimentary materials and the re-use of materiality to achieve a sustainable outcome. It is an unexpected pairing of workshop and traditional workplace that has created a very interesting union. Intermain promotes the re-use and recycling of materials, demonstrating how raw materials can be used in refined ways and how intelligent, robust design can create value in a project.

2024 Australian Interior Design Awards Jury

The Australian Interior Design Award for Intermain HQ marks BVN's fourth workplace win in six years. Other wins include Multiplex HQ (2022), BVN Brisbane Studio (2022) and BVN Sydney Studio (2019) with a further 10 projects shortlisted in this category.

Collaborating with a powerhouse such as BVN on our head office project in Alexandria, Sydney, was a pleasure. We couldn’t have asked for more! BVN’s visionary design and collaborative approach worked seamlessly with our construction and project teams to realise a remarkable head office. Thanks, BVN!

Andrew Johnson, CEO/Managing Director - Intermain

Workplace solutions like Intermain HQ spring from a shared interest in resourcefulness and values-oriented design interventions that enhance social and environmental outcomes.