VISION 28 — HOME TOWN HERO
What aspect of the building are you most pleased with?
One area is the foyer/lift space. We didn't have the money
for a whole range of architectural details, but it's just the
space for people upon entry to have this lovely breathing
space. They're not crunched into a narrow stairway, or just
straight to the front of a lift door where there's no room to
move. It just adds to the feeling that the building's a nice
place to be. The other element is that we were able to use
the three types of Viridian coloured glass, rather than just
clear glass or one colour. It needed the three—bronze,
green and blue. They work beautifully together.
There’s a highly complimentary aspect in GHD’s fit out
that maintains that very free flowing form with discrete,
private spaces too. There's some cool glass interiors that
fulfil the external promise. So often not the case.
You're right. That's exactly what happens and is definitely
to GHD’s credit and speaks of the professionalism GHD
brings to the Latrobe Valley. If you have something that
works, don't try and overpower it, don't try and destroy it
but rather enhance it. And they have done just that.
There is a synergy between the exterior and their fit-out.
What research went into settling on the colors and
understanding the glass you were installing?
The colours come from Virdian’s standard range of Super
Blue, the Super Green, and Bronze. They needed a certain
energy rating and are a double-glazed system. Once those
three colours were selected I had to be sure I could make
them work in combination and at a scale that reads well.
Glass is the key to this building, bar none. It determines
the building. It wasn't the other way around. The building
was constructed and then the glass was selected to suit.
Did you require Viridian’s technical assistance?
No, in most cases, these buildings are small enough to
not require technical assistance. They did cut the glass,
of course, and the builder had to make a pattern for
those shapes, so that they could be cut by Viridian,
because the normal shopfitters would have a lot more
trouble doing that.
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