Sydney’s former 1936 motor car registration building, Transport House, is reinvigorated for M&C Saatchi’s Australian headquarters through socially minded, sustainable interventions.

M&C Saatchi Group is a creative agency that connects clients with specialist expertise fueled by data and technology, helping businesses to lead meaningful change. The newly designed HQ imbues the built environment with company values to deliver a multifaceted experience for clients and creatives. Set over three floors, the 3,400sqm space takes the art deco bones and reimagines their potential in service of collaboration and originality.

The primary principles anchoring the project are: nothing leaves the building; character is amplified, not subdued; and the space must constitute a unique place to work.

By following these, the designers have created an interior that celebrates potential, built with people and planet in mind.

Navigate
Careful attention was given to the reinvigoration of assets to form a dynamic and vibrant workplace that entices people to come together. Significant architectural interventions were undertaken to improve access, mobility, and flow. An equitable arrival point pulls users directly into the heart of the workplace. Building cores on two floors have been redistributed to boost connection across floorplates and two newly designed stairs vertically link all three floors.

Create
Five diverse areas offered by the original building are celebrated throughout the interior. The original shell is restored, and ornate period details are amplified. The design mixes new materials with historic ones – characterful timbers, bronze accents, and bold colors are mixed with historic stone flooring, marble columns and original timber paneling.

At the heart, the original grand civic room is restored, its graphic qualities accentuated. New flooring materials are laid in a large candy-stripe arrangement, deepening the original travertine flooring at scale. Marble columns are restored and frame the new stair architectural ‘pods’, serving as client meeting rooms.

All-white spaces provide an expansive blank canvas for immersion, clarity, and ideas. The core is wrapped with illuminated magnetic white glass upon which users can write and pin up project details. Beyond the glass sits meeting spaces for individual, team, and client.

Crafted timber-paneled rooms provide places for focus, comfort, and retreat. Reconstituted timber cladding is used in its simplest form to complement the ornate original rooms.

Leading meaningful change
M&C Saatchi workplace recognises character, not perfection, as the fundamental requirement for the future workplace. Informed by project principles, place and environment, material choice is guided by circular principles, and new materials have been responsibly used in complete sheet sizes to reduce waste. Australian materials and locally sourced furniture are proudly showcased throughout.