Darling Quarter,

South Building

Hammond Studio has recently completed the repositioning and revitalisation of Darling Quarter’s South Building for client Lend Lease.

Three years in the making, this has been a highly technical project of significant proportions. It was an enticing challenge which saw the Hammond Studio team dedicate its collective brains trust towards the concept, design, documentation and execution of the building’s renewal.

Now completed, Hammond Studio has refurbished the lobby with an internal café and new end-of-trip facilities, upgraded toilets throughout the building and within the tenancy, installed essential DDA lifts, and integrated touch-free technology throughout.

The interior design takes its inspiration from the nearby Cockle Bay. Hammond Studio dove into the site’s rich history of cockle and oyster shells – first a source of food for Indigenous people, later a source of lime for colonial-era construction. The resulting narrative has informed both the interiors and the intervention.

A repetition of geometry can be seen throughout, while the reflective qualities of the oyster shell are captured through the thoughtfully selected materials in the café zone.

The central void has been tripled in size: a major architectural intervention which required the part of the façade to be dismantled in order to complete the work.

Hammond Studio has increased the sightlines into the building: a subtle nod to the changing face of the financial sector. And though the space appears simple, clean and welcoming, its fire safety, structural engineering and acoustic capabilities are highly sophisticated.

A special feature is the Kvadrat Soft Cell acoustic panelling installed into the ceilings throughout the lobby and into the tenancy, too. It is among the largest installation of Soft Cell panels in the southern hemisphere, and has proven to perform incredibly well in the spaces.

The next stage of Darling Quarter North Building, with building renewal lead by Hammond Studio, will be completed in April 2023. Reach out to Hammond Studio today, to discuss your building’s next lifecycle.

Photography by Terence Chin. © Hammond Studio