Woodscannon’s office is designed so the creative minds inside never feel constrained by the four walls that surround them.
The Wright Street premises, which houses a small team of advertising and design creatives, is light, bright and dominated by a huge blue ping-pong table.
Photo: Nat Rogers / InDaily
The table sits in the centre of the work space, with desks (containing the mandatory-for-hip-designers Macs) arranged around the walls. Winding up to serve from one end, you can watch looping surfing videos on a flat-panel display over your opponent’s right shoulder.
The ping-pong section is kept separate from the front-of-house by large graphic dividers. Clients are entertained out front, while work continues behind the veil. When no clients are present, the front space becomes a place to get away from work for a moment.
Photo: Nat Rogers / InDaily
“If the guys can’t get away from their work area, it’s nice to come back here and sit and have a coffee and have a chat,” company director Aaron Woods tells InDaily Design
“Step away from the computers – that’s the main thing. Take your eyes off. We’ll have a briefing session in here as well, sit down, talk about a new job as a group, which direction we’re going to go.”
When the firm moved in, the space was little more than a shell. It’s now a thoroughly modern office, although it still retains some raw industrial touches, including a polished concrete floor.
The entire creative team is kept together in the open-plan space; nobody has a cubicle or an office except Woods, which encourages chit-chat and creative cross-pollination.
Woodscannon director Aaron Woods with his wine range. Photo: Nat Rogers / InDaily
Woods largely designed the space himself, with interior design one of a long list of passions that includes surfing and winemaking. Indeed, the office is full of wine bottles, and some of the storage space is being used as a wine cellar for the latest vintage.
A raised island bench with a recycled-granite-paver topping runs parallel to the ping-pong table – after hours, it’s sometimes converted into a small bar from which Woods serves staff his own viticultural potions.
