ARUP Workplace

Practice Area

Client

Arup

Industry

  2. Primary floor level directory signage; programmable LED modules allow for unique messaging display on demand.

  4. Illuminated meeting room signage featuring LED modules held in aluminum extrusions suspended on tensile wires.

  5. Suspending the meeting room signage in front of the wall surface allows the design to be equally effective on solid or transparent walls.

  6. Suspended destination identification signage featuring curly cord that provides an industrial aesthetic to exposed power delivery.

  7. Illuminated destination identification draws attention to the numerous unique labs and workshops within the open plan workspace.

  8. Unique timber environmental graphic installed around the digital fabrication lab reiterates ‘testing grounds’ theme and features a metric dashed grid that allows for easy measurement reference.

Project Vision

Studio Ongarato developed a comprehensive signage and environmental graphics system based on the concept “Testing Grounds” for the Melbourne headquarters of globally respected engineering firm Arup. Designed to complement the organization’s corporate values of honesty, integrity and ingenuity, the final outcome reflects notions of investigation, discovery, innovation and the aspiration to put “Arup on Display.”

Elements of testing and measurement are subtly expressed as grid overlays in the environmental design of timber screens and glazing graphics. While a distinctive suite of wayfinding signage features a bespoke assemblage of LED modules housed in structural components suspended on tensile cables to display dynamic, programmable content. A humble palate of raw materials and exposed wiring is elevated by considered design details. By developing wifi enabled signage controlled by custom software, the system offers uniquely future-proofed flexibility for Arup to create responsive messaging as required.

This novel light-based approach serves to reinforce the technical, modern and open-source tone to the workspace. Environmental graphics feature a metric grid overlay that can be manifest in two and three dimensions. A unique 2-D graphic pattern is applied to glass wall partitions and can be used to produce scaled sketches on the glazing while inside the meeting rooms. Three dimensionally the grid is installed as a feature timber screen and moulded panels around freestanding lab spaces. This bold approach to materiality, form and scale serves to distinguish the labs within the open-planned workplace, as well as to connect these spaces across all levels when viewed from large voids and suspended mezzanines.

Project Details
I’d work there just so I could experience this wayfinding system.
Juror 1
Defining perfect restraint in both materiality and execution this system perfectly integrates into the surrounding environment while adding an uncomplicated element of illumination and touch of warmth to the environment.
Juror 2
It's a clever take on the industrial look using raw materials, simply and carefully implemented throughout the space.
Juror 3
Design Team

Fabio Ongarato (creative direction), Ben Kluger (lead designer), Jordan Rowe (concept designer), Eva Lee (detailed design and project management)

Project Area

54,896 sq ft