Hybrid working has changed work and focussed the reasons we go to the office. ARM’s design provides for the exchange, concentration, and culture that only proximity can create. To design the workplace that became RMIT’s OurPlace, we needed to learn what made that unique to RMIT.

ARM’s research phase of interviews, workshops, brainstorming sessions and utilisation studies provided an epic 1,600 touch points of consultation leading to a workplace strategy that informed our designs.

Our site, three large floorplates risked becoming vast desk farms or oppressive warrens. Instead we created named destinations and neighbourhoods, each with its own character assisting wayfinding across the vast floorplates. We designed spaces for socialising, focused work, co-creation, wellness, events and learning, each intentionally designed to match the nature of their purpose, making 10,000 square metres feel human-scaled and legible rather than an inexorable corporate doldrum.

The most significant space is Ngargee, co-designed with Senior Boon Wurrung Elder N'arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM and indigenous scholar Professor Mark McMillan. Bespoke upholstery draws on tartans, Moroccan fabrics, Persian rugs and fabric dyed with ash from a Yorta Yorta smoking ceremony. A cosmos motif on the steps and floor is the night sky as common ground.

The project created seven Work Integrated Learning opportunities for RMIT students across architecture, interior design, and textiles and ceramics – some of whose work is installed in the finished space.