Hames Sharley Adelaide Studio

The Hames Sharley Adelaide Studio is the next evolution in our practice towards sensory and energy-based design. Inviting, intuitive and intelligent, our new workplace adapts and reuses an iconic space in Adelaide’s CBD, and makes it feel like home in every sense to create a fun-filled, festive environment that echoes and amplifies the vibrance and warmth of our team. Welcome to a new era of Hames Sharley design.

The studio occupies Level 14 of the heritage-listed Reserve Bank building, built in the 1960s, in the historic Victoria Square precinct. Reflecting an era of optimism in post-war Australia, the building is of exceptional merit, with European echoes of Le Corbusier and Australian materiality, including Western Australian granite on the external spandrels and internal feature clad walls in Australian timber. It was a building of firsts, with an advanced lift system, centrally-controlled mechanical plant and intricate solar screen façade of anodised aluminium.

Our response was to harness the potential of one of its original floors – the mechanical plant room turned into sterile offices – with its spectacular green views across the east to the Adelaide Hills and rich copper sunset aspects to the west out to beach views.

Nature-inspired, the new fit-out expands on the ethos of the Melbourne studio with an energy-based sensory design. By creating spaces that respond to the way the sun tracks through the studio each day, our team is empowered to work in the conditions that suit them best.

The studio opens via a curved timber wall into a central light-filled foyer and lobby with two distinct wings. On the eastern floorplate, the studio is painted white with a quiet, fresh vibe, responding to the morning sun and green views, with low-intensive spaces, three quiet focus rooms, fixed workstations, lockers and a multipurpose wellness room with soft furnishings.

Just as the sun moves across the building to the western floorplate, the design increases the intensity in that orientation, with warmer terracotta tones and large, collaborative spaces, including the kitchen, library, and boardroom with bi-folds for larger-scale events, plus open working zones for group collaboration. This allows the team to dial up or dial down their level of interaction during the day, providing a choice of where to sit, and where to be to work at their best according to their particular sensory needs.

The new fit-out speaks to the materiality of the building’s mid-century heritage, featuring breeze blocks, mosaic tiles and curved timber panelling. With a rich palette of terracotta, blush pink and earthy green, the overall effect is almost residential; cosy, comforting, and inviting. Biophilic elements include planters built into joinery, while the east and west sides are connected by a continuous light and walkway, celebrating the transition between both. While remnants of the original ceiling remained, other elements were removed and services added in, spraypainted white and specialistic acoustic treatments added, providing functionality and a soaring ceiling effect.

To furnish the space, the studio honours Adelaide as the ‘festival state’ with a home for art and collaboration. Sculptures and installations punctuate the spaces, including an enduring heirloom of the studio – a hot pink donkey known as Juan – and works by the team, including Graduate of Architecture Sarah Burton. The foyer features a hanging installation made of individual fabric squares sourced from our library, each interpreted by team members.

From a sterile office to a reinvigorated space that is warm and welcoming, the transformation from old to new has breathed fresh life into the studio. With its soft and inviting focus, it expands on our team’s legacy of creating meaningful places to support Adelaide’s diverse communities, such as Purruna Spencer Newton Centre at Scotch College Adelaide, the Australian Centre for Sports Aerodynamics, Glenside Apartments, and Clifton Park Community and Affordable Housing in Camden Park.