Description:

180 Lonsdale is an A-grade commercial tower in the Melbourne CBD. Diadem’s brief was to activate and reinvigorate the foyer space to entice people to linger and assist with attracting new tenants. As a result, the amenity was upgraded, with value-added to the building asset.

Building owners are continually upgrading their assets to meet the requirements of their tenants and attract new ones. These projects often result in multi-million-dollar budgets; discarded fit-outs become landfill and cause prolonged periods of disruption. This project explores a different model. We proposed an economical, more sustainable, quicker method of achieving this high-profile location. The digital screens allow the content to be periodically changed over, each time reinvigorating the space in a fresh iteration and creating a new environment quickly and economically.

The premise was to use technology to transform the foyer into a place of wonder, delight, and engagement. A place where typically transient users could linger, be entranced, and experience a calmness within a busy CBD environment. Central to the approach was the integration of the architectural space, digital screens, and dynamic content – they were considered holistically.

The existing angled foyer walls were earmarked for the location of digital screens, inspiring the concept of ‘the fold’. The moving images above and below the ‘fold’ line mirror each other, referencing Rorschach imagery.

The architectural space is monochromatic, expressed with materials and finishes of multiple patterns and textures. So as not to overpower the foyer, the imagery is desaturated of colour. It is simple yet bold and animates in a languid fashion, designed to achieve a degree of subtlety.

A collaboration between Diadem, Isamu Sawa (photographer/director) and Jake Reeder (cinematographer) created bespoke artistic content to launch the digital screens. The digital content was generated during a commissioned studio shoot, resulting in a 15-minute ethereal and eternal loop.

The commissioned content explores botanicals, water and ice, creating a micro world shown macro on the large screens. It encourages viewers to sit, contemplate and observe, focussing attention on microscopic elements that most people would never take the time to notice.

The result is an enhanced place that activates the imagination, penetrates the mundane and engages with those who wander through or choose to stop and immerse themselves.