Sustainability

After 20 years in Mount Waverley, 7-Eleven, Starbucks and the Wither’s Family relocated to their new Richmond location.
The move saw staff previously housed across two buildings, come together across five floors. The new headquarters site therefore, focused on the idea of connection, and the expression (and culture statement) of making the ordinary extraordinary.

A flexible and reconfigurable industrialized system. The prefabricated pavilion prototype is conceived as a flexible and versatile system based on a standard model and its different variations. This modular and additive typological scheme allows multiple configurations according to requirements of every different project, from a large museum hall to a small sales office, including different middle combinations. 

In 2018, the UN released an article stating that 55% of the world’s population already lived in urban areas, predicting that by 2050 this percentage would reach 68%. This trend toward greater urbanization carries with it several implications regarding environmental degradation and social inequality. According to National Geographic, urban growth increases air pollution, endangers animal populations, promotes the loss of urban tree cover, and heightens the likelihood of environmental catastrophes such as flash flooding. These health hazards and catastrophic phenomena may be more likely to impact poorer populations, as larger cities tend to demonstrate higher rates of economic inequality and uncontrolled growth tends to produce unequal distributions of space, services, and opportunities.

To mitigate these negative effects of urbanization, designers are increasingly prioritizing sustainability and the maximization of available space – allowing more people to occupy less space with a smaller footprint.

The Becelhuis is part of the characteristic factory complex on the former Unilever premises located on the southbank of the river Maas in Rotterdam. In 1930 the Becelhuis was added to the site with spaces for production, offices, storage and management rooms. In 2017 the margarine and spreads department demerged from Unilever and continued as an independent global company named Upfield.

‘Cities for Play‘ is a project whose main objective is to inspire architects and urban planners to create stimulating, respectful, and accessible cities for children.