0226 Innovest Studio

...Blade walls incorporating slot windows capture poetic views of the picturesque lake and surrounds

Craig Steere Architects were approached by down south building company Innovest Construction to design a new contemporary company office building in Yallingup that would showcase their experience in tilt-up concrete construction, an aesthetic they liked, and would also complement the nearby Art Gallery precinct at Gunyulgup Lake. Overall, the building was required to sit quietly within its rural landscape setting, it needed to incorporate a flexible and open floor plan, to maximize natural ventilation and daylight and it needed to incorporate low-maintenance materials.

The resultant building is a contemporary exploration of two different aesthetics: the functional and planar qualities of tilt-up concrete construction, and the softer local tradition of class cream-coloured masonry walls, simple skillion roofs and sculptural layering of blade walls and building forms. It was designed with a simple rectilinear plan oriented on an east-west axis to maximize exposure to the favoured northern light, and with operable windows positioned to capture the cooling south west breezes. Large areas of glazing allow for natural lighting of the internal studio spaces while also making the most of the commanding views to Gunyulgup Lake. The building was positioned in a way that allowed it to be built within the natural contours of the site, minimizing its apparent scale and mass. The design attempts to depart from the standard expression of tilt-up construction with its placement of openings and inclusion of exposed galvanized steel framing.