Lawless & Meyerson strips back Heritage building for new office

Lawless & Meyerson stripped back to “reveal the beauty and scars” of the existing building fabric in its new office in Sydney.

Located in the former Wilsons Steam Laundry in a Heritage-listed warehouse in the heart of Surry Hills, the space spans two levels and is shared by the studio and architecture firm MHNDU.

When designing the new office, Lawless & Meyerson left the building’s brick walls and timber ceilings “raw” and “natural” in an effort to celebrate the exisiting Heritage essence.

Layers of past renovations were preserved in the brickwork and timber, and the old terrazzo and concrete floors restored.

“The idea was to make the space look like it had always been there. Everything had to look like it had just been brought in and placed, nothing built in,” explains the studio.

“The fit-out was secondary. It needed to take a back step and let the history do the talking by exploiting the imperfections.”

The new office, which is called Richard’s Lane, has been shortlisted for the IDEA 2020 Workplace Under 1000sqm category. The project also earned the studio a spot as a finalist for this year’s Emerging Designer award.

Read the full article here