Dropbox’s Intimate Sydney Office Channels the Home

They have a surprising amount in common. “We are both large global organizations. But our Sydney offices are small and boutique in feel,” Gensler managing director and senior associate Simon Trude explains of the Australian outpost he designed for Dropbox, which won the firm’s __design Excellence Award for a small built workplace for a technology company.

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And quite a technology company it is. One in two Internet users in Australia has shared a digital file through Dropbox, facilities operations manager Rachel Johns says. The fast-growing Sydney satellite had been bunking in temporary digs for two years before finally securing a permanent home for 50 staffers: 21,500 square feet in a tony building in “tech alley,” where neighbors include Apple and WeWork Companies.

Trude won the commission with his concept From House to Home. Accordingly, the space is designed to approximate the flow and ambience of a residence, albeit tweaked to suit workplace needs. Near the reception desk, glass doors allow guests to survey activity beyond. “It’s like looking through someone’s front window,” he says. One half of the floor plate offers a “kitchen” café and  a “living room” lounge furnished with homey seating, while the other half is dominated by the obligatory bench desking. To make up for the lack of outdoor access, so prized in Sydney, he faked a “courtyard” complete with garden furniture and abundant greenery.

“The importance of conjuring delight is a corporate value at Dropbox,” Johns says. Delightful indeed are the blown-up photographs by a surfer and blogger whose Bondi Beach snapshots have made him a bona fide local icon. His images of turquoise-bright ocean waves crash over all manner of office surfaces, from feature walls to the Ping-Pong table. How did he deliver the files to Gensler graphic designer Danny Wehbe? Of course, via Dropbox. 

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> See more from the November 2016 issue of Interior Design

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Six Scandinavian Interiors That Make The Lived-in Look Inspirational

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• Visualizer: Yuriy Bobak Archviz Studio

Our first interior in Warsaw, Poland is a cosy nest for a couple of two. White-walled and wooden-floored, its structure allows the little things to add to a clean, spacious look. The living room offers us the first glimpse, with a powder-blue couch and striped rug making first impact. Wooden furniture and monochromatic prints complement their tones, without appearing same-same. Green leaves and simple, framed illustrations evoke simplicity. White lampshades hide beside the walls.

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From the couch, the little things take greater force. Rows of hanging pot plants become features, a standing bookcase a cabinet of knowledge. Amidst a deck and windows swathed in white, a powder-blue chair offers a seat to take it in.

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A desk needs no introduction, in common white and wood elements. The most minimal of markers, a trio of wooden frames highlight a place for work, while harking back to the lounge. Potted plants and small white ornaments are magnified in white cushions and a lampshade, on opposing sides.

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Simple yet lived-in, the bedroom is a canvas of white pocked by wood. Undesirables in lighting, a heated rail and blinds become one in white. A wooden chest and cane basket hold personal items, while green frames each corner. Four monochrome prints reflect on the study and lounge, mimicking the wardrobe’s compartmentalisation. A mirror relaxes to the side.

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The kitchen’s light and breeze is retained, despite its many elements. White cabinetry, windows and blinds are matched by light wood in benches and floors. The perfect Scandinavian backdrop, they allow pops of black to surprise in an oven and chair, while green and chrome talk to one another.

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Two perfect circles round off an all-white bathroom, briefly joined by a wooden bench and mirror rims. Circles join more circles in standing basins, chrome magnifiers and an oval bath, all grounded by large-format charcoal tiling.

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• Visualizer: YUlOnG Fu

Our second space is much more kitsch. Dotted in a variety of textures and tones, a Scandinavian framework makes it clean and stylish. In the central area, light wooden chairs, floors and chests provide a perfect canvas. A stencil chandelier is fixed by a block of black, as a grey rug opposite mimics its shape. Grey and khaki meet with potted plants which hang, sit and hide amongst the wooden. Terracotta pots, books and monochromatic prints are lit by simple French windows.

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The study and TV areas mark their spaces by plants. In the study, a small-leaved potted plant drapes over the ceiling, partially obscuring a drop-down light. In the TV room, potted plants sit on library shelves and a TV cabinet, giving prominence to the TV and central wall. Light wood grounds the plant and finer ornamental detail, making the busy look basic.

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White spaces oscillate between over-piling and minimalism. A barn-door entranceway houses a heap of clothes, chequered and multi-coloured, on grey floral tiles. The TV room corridor, by contrast, features one potted tree against a white brick wall, as glass baubles and a green tray sit to the side. Both spaces suit the tone of the home.

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The bedroom is a jumble of grey, white and light wood, illustrated and framed by more potted green. Innumerable in its decorations, its clean white walls and ceiling create breathing space, with no detail rising more than halfway. Wide French windows and simple blue-grey curtains greet a black-stencilled chair and lightly-patterned grey rug.

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• Visualizer: Dattran

Our next two-bedroom is a lot less ornamental – but not less patterned. The lounge shows a myriad of undertones and shapes in collaboration. Classic white walls and wooden floors open up to a grey couch and curtains, mottled rug and different-coloured cushions. A range of cubed and circular art pieces adorn the central table, while a standing lamp hovers beside a print. The look is monochromatic, mixed with the muted.

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The kitchen provides a solid background for the smaller space, in simple white cabinetry and benching. A fridge and bench inlet framed in black show allegiance to the table, while not detracting from the main living space. Scandinavian chairs (Selig Z Style chair in the living and the Salt Chairs at the kitchen counter) really drive __home the style.

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The bedroom’s white light glows over charcoal, popping up throughout the room. Draped in bedding and a rug, its tones play in an abstract art piece and window sill. Pops of green and white kitsch both stand out and blend into white blinds and an exposed brick wall.

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The second bedroom warms up with a wood-panelled feature wall and floor. A beige padded headboard and striped duvet set it apart, with matching tables and a rug in supporting roles. Features charcoal in the first are turned black in the second, with each bedroom comparing and contrasting. A bright blue seascape centres the space.

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• Visualizer: Harun Kaymaz

Our fourth contender looks a lot simpler – and it is. An L-shaped block sofa carries matching cushioning, while abstract prints shine in the same hue. White fixtures in window joinery, a light and side table are made different by abstract sparks – turquoise table legs here, terracotta pots there. A golden trumpet and beige woollen rug add warmth, while French windows mirror the shape of the prints.

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• Visualizer: Le Anh

Inject a bit of pastel with our fifth __home for inspiration. Not content with charcoal and wood, a proliferation of patterns add pizzazz to the white-coated living room. Cushions sidle next to each other in a variety of detailing. Three frames gradate from minimalist lines to coloured crescents, all framed in light wood. A stencilled standing lamp is reflected in cane chair-backing and side table grate. Yellow pops on the table below a branched bulb light, dangling elusively from the ceiling. Grey and white stripes set the scene.

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• Visualizer: Yuliya Chudinovskikh

Our final space is a masterpiece in monochrome. Black and white adorn cushions and prints, before nestling into grey. The living room holds their colouring in black stencil and wooden frames, while natural green and a rustic bucket add the living. A silver bauble chandelier takes it into the modern day.

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The kitchen makes monochrome its guiding principle, with black dotted in all the right places. Drawer and cupboard handles, ovens and a benchtop all go back to black, while a faint outline in the tiles combines the two opposing shades. A chrome fridge and plumbing quell their differences among green and wood elements.

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Top Design Images of the Past Decade

In anticipation of Interior Design's forthcoming Decade of Design book, we gathered a selection of some of the most striking __design moments from the last 10 years. From 2006 to today, these are the photographs that we won't be forgetting anytime soon. View the slideshow to see amazing hotel, office, residential, and retail projects by some of the industry's leading firms.

> Preorder Decade of __design here

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Spacious-Looking, One Bedroom Apartment With Dark Wood Accents

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Our one-bedroom apartment begins in the central room, a fusion of living, dining and kitchen areas. Designed for a young woman, the TV space opens to a portrait of her likeness in black and white. Large panes of colour in a charcoal couch, wooden panel and beige wall provide clear space for thought. Subtle features in two types of foliage, white-bound books and a geometric-patterned rug add politically-correct personality. A semi-low, flat ceiling is disguised in white, minimal light fixtures.

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From the TV room, kitchen and dining areas extend a hand. Tall white cabinetry, mimicking the length of two large windows, pops out from behind the partition wall. Three dangling white lights mark the dining table.

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A monochrome print lords over a drinks cabinet. Oscillating in white and wood, its long lines mimic the TV cabinet, giving space to the print. A view further to the side shows a range of room partitions, each artfully placed to segment while uniting as one.

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From the kitchen, the view is clean, minimalistic. A range of potted plants pave the way to another wooden feature wall, made all the more dramatic by a white textured painting hanging on its frame. Clean slate tiles and light-wooden flooring greet a hallway mirror, extending the space. A simple white door gives prominence to the artwork and table, avoiding overcrowding.

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As the feature wall welcomes two lit ferns, a well-designed balcony leads us back out. Facing wide window panes in white joinery, the space is framed using very little space. A row of potted green fits almost into the joinery. A design feature wall in slatted wood replaces the original fixture. Wall shelving is stencilled and minimalist, while grey linen chairs gather peacefully.

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The bedroom brings in the themes of the central space. Emanating relaxation, a dark wooden headboard mirrors the TV room, light-grey walls the kitchen floor. Black hanging lights match white counterparts in the kitchen, and monochrome prints the feature wall. Creating difference, an LED-lit panel beams atop the headboard, while subtle stripes line the rug, cushions and duvet. Minimal shelving and a mirror extend the space and let light in.

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The wardrobe is both clever and contemporary. A cacophony of long, lean panelling, its central inlet appears to extend rather than take from the space. Dark-panelled, their cubby holes hide necessities while leading to another white, bright exit.

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A closer look at the kitchen reveals similar themes. Long, white panelling makes it classic and elegant. Lit dark wood panelling creates an inlet of interest. Necessities hide in under-table shelving, while a stove and fridge take a seat to the side. An island bench affords room for unique drop lights to allude to more space.

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Carrying on their accents, more wooden panels are bathroom-bound. Making friends with marbled tiling, they find expression beside towel rails, under sinks and beside the toilet. Stone blocks in white porcelain and a slate benchtop ground the space, while an illuminated mirror and glass panel give the illusion of ever more room.

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