International design firm Hassell has transformed its new Melbourne workplace into a testing ground for regenerative design, challenging conventional ideas about what a sustainable office should look like through a ‘design with less’ philosophy.

Located within I. M. Pei’s 55 Collins Street, Studio 55 has been conceived as a ‘worklab’ where the design practice can test its own approach to workplace design as part of its journey towards Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification.

Rather than replicating the comforts of a residential living room, the studio takes a rather radical approach that Hassell describes as ‘sustainable brutalism’. The concept centres on using fewer resources, retaining existing elements and making deliberate choices about every component of the fitout.

Pivoting away from the isolation of a typical home office, the new ‘anti-home’ workplace is designed to encourage interaction and collaboration, with flexible elements allowing spaces to shift seamlessly between work, workshops and events.

Custom forum tables, for example, can be converted into pin-up walls, allowing the studio to adapt quickly to different activities. The approach is supported by Hassell’s flexible attendance policy, with the workplace designed as a vibrant hub to provide the social connection and knowledge-sharing opportunities that can be harder to replicate when working from home.

“We wanted a space that tests our own design thinking in real time. Every decision we made had to earn its place – what we kept, what we reused, what we left exposed. This rigorous approach, which we’ve dubbed ‘sustainable brutalism’, transformed potential constraints into a creative challenge,” explains Hassell Principal and Chair, Rob Backhouse.

“By experimenting on our own workspace, we’ve proven this is a highly viable, resource-conscious strategy that we can apply to our clients’ projects at Hassell."

The fitout was delivered in collaboration with MPA Construction Group, with Arup providing engineering and LBC-related consulting services. A significant proportion of the studio's existing elements was retained, with joinery, workstations, furniture and lighting salvaged from Hassell’s former Little Collins Street workplace.

The project team also tracked materials throughout the process, documenting their origins, ingredients, emissions and chain of custody. Subcontractors received dedicated LBC training as part of the delivery process.

The resulting fitout achieved a 41% reduction in embodied carbon compared to a conventional workplace fitout, while 98% of construction and fitout waste was diverted from landfill.

More than 90 bespoke light fittings were created by Melbourne designer Edward Linacre using recycled aluminium and hand-blown glass. Recycled materials were also incorporated into walls, ceilings and acoustic treatments, including products made from recycled cartons, cups, soft plastics and PET.

“Studio 55 is us pushing and stretching our own regenerative design values,” says Hassell’s Head of Sustainability, Samantha Peart. “It shows that many of the things our industry dismisses as ‘too hard’ are entirely achievable when systems thinking is embedded from the outset, and that using your purpose as a design driver can create real functional, commercial and cultural value.”

The studio's environmental ambitions extend beyond its physical fitout. To offset its footprint, Hassell has partnered with Wilderlands and Cassinia Environmental to protect approximately 4,000sqm of high-biodiversity land at Alleena in New South Wales. The site has been placed under a Biodiversity Conservation Trust covenant to ensure its protection in perpetuity.

Inside Studio 55, a living planting strategy developed with Melbourne-based Flora’s Daughter introduces established indoor plants alongside Australian native species more commonly associated with outdoor environments, such as the Wollemi Pine. The plants are monitored fortnightly, providing an ongoing opportunity to assess how resilient species respond to indoor conditions.

Together, the material strategy, workplace planning and biodiversity initiatives position Studio 55 as a practical demonstration of Hassell’s ambition to move workplace design beyond simply reducing environmental harm and towards creating regenerative outcomes.

Photography by Tom Blachford (Supplied)

Architecture News & Editorial Desk

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