Project Overview
Developed by luxury property developer, GURNER™, and designed by Elenberg Fraser, Ikebana is a 241-apartment residential address in West Melbourne that uses the Zen-like aesthetic of Japan’s traditional art of ‘ikebana’ or formal floral arranging as its muse, to deliver an architectural icon with a distinct yet subtle Japanese influence.
In order to effectively showcase the development during the off-the-plan sales process, and communicate the superior quality of the apartment’s inclusions and layouts, GURNER™ briefed architects, Elenberg Fraser on creating a visually dramatic temporary display suite, in the bones of the existing site’s former warehouse facilities.
Creating the Ikebana display suite required the former warehouse to be completely transformed into two full-size indicative apartments including kitchens, bathrooms and living areas, along with a distinct welcome area and theatre room, effectively recreating the essence of the apartments’ design before they are built, right down to the most intricate details of joinery, storage and materials.
The pop up display needed to capture the essence of the project through a multitude of spaces that contributed to a larger special experience, while also enhancing the user experience and communicating the developer’s commitment to luxury and quality.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Team:
GURNER:
• Tim Gurner, founder and director
• Brooke Formosa, Senior Development Manager
• Jared Byass, Senior Development Manager
• Brad Yudelman, Senior Project Manager
360 Property Group
o Evan Cathcart
o Jeremy Gilmore
Elenberg Fraser
o Callum Fraser
o Stella Lein
o Jeremy Schulter
o Charlotte Cairns
Landscape Architecture
• Jack Merlo Design (rooftop)
Project Brief
GURNER™, places a huge emphasis on creating sales suites with fullsize apartment interiors, with the belief that purchasers deserve to feel, experience and walk-through an apartment before they buy off-the-plan.
With this in mind no expense is spared to replicate even the finest details, to ensure an honest and true representation of the project is delivered during the sales process.
To achieve this, the existing warehouse structure was painted black, to create a sense of mystique about what was behind the door.
Once inside, users were greeted with a luxurious reception area and waiting room. Behind it, a sleek theatre room allows users to view a model and watch a video about the project’s vision, design and inspiration.
After the theatre room, the true experience begins, and guests walk through a tranquil Zen-garden, built internally into the warehouse, that imbues this sense of Japanese tradition and connects their experience with that of walking through the building’s future Japanese gardens.
It is only then, that the apartments are ‘revealed’ and guests can explore the full-size apartments and every facet of their design, all before they decide to purchase one of the apartments.
Project Innovation/Need
The design’s innovation was also one of its biggest challenges, in how to transform a huge warehouse with soaring ceilings and pitched roofs, into a scalable representation of the apartments.
A party wall was created down the middle of the space, effectively creating an entry zone running the length of one side, with the Zen garden creating a distinct delineation between this entry space and the apartment spaces to follow.
The second half of the building then became the two apartment spaces, with a full-size re-creation of two apartments.
Another innovation was creating the refined textural palette expressive of the intricate patterns and ‘hand-torn’ elements that were envisioned in the design of the project. The tactility of the painted brick walls is emblematic of the organic nature of traditional Japanese hand-torn paper techniques, which helps to communicate the nature of the project on a larger scale.
The creation on an internal Zen garden is another innovation, both in the sense of an unusual inclusion in a property display suite, and in the sense of creating a garden that looks and feels like an external garden, in the internal of a warehouse building.
Design Challenge
As mentioned above, one of the biggest challenges in designing the pop up display was in how to create distinct ‘rooms’ and journeys within a large, sparse, existing warehouse space.
As the six-metre high ceilings would not be an accurate representation of the apartments’ interiors, a row of lights were dropped from the ceiling at the height of the actual apartments to create scale and space, while cladded wall treatments helped to delineate between what was effectively the scale of the ceilings in the proposed design.
Another challenge in delivering a design that would appropriately communicate the project’s level of luxury, was the fact that the space was only temporary and would effectively be knocked over in four months’ time to start building the actual apartments.
While most developers would request to save costs due to the display’s temporary nature, GURNER™ invested $500,000 in the construction of the space, in order to create an accurate representation of the apartments that would follow.
This investment into the space, while a significant cost, proved fruitful in the end with every one of the apartments selling out in just six weeks, before advertising could even commence.
Sustainability
The building's sustainability lies in the re-use of the existing building to create the pop up display, rather than demolishing the existing building just to build a temporary pop up space on its place, before effectively demolishing that too, to make way for the new apartment building. The energy and material savings in this element alone are substantial.
The Zen garden is another sustainable feature, by bringing greenery inside the space the building promotes a greener outlook and encourages health and well-being both to guests and those working inside the display.
Pop-Ups, Display, Exhibit & Set Design
This award celebrates innovative and creative design for a temporary building or interior, exhibition, pop up site, installation, fixture or interactive element. Consideration given to materials, finishes, signage and experience.
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