Sonoa Health sounds like a medical company, but it's not. It is a start-up company comprising a creative crew of animators, who create animation for the medical profession.
"Their cartoons explain medical conditions to the wider public," says Melbourne architect Antony Martin, director of MRTN Architects, who was commissioned to create a fit-out for Sonoa in a relatively short time (less than two months). "When they started there was only a handful of staff. Now there are almost 40 people," Martin says.
Martin was presented with an office shell within a 1930s' low-rise building on the corner of Flinders Lane and Exhibition Street in Melbourne's CBD. Apart from a few glass walls, partitioned offices and lacquered black timber floors, there was little else. "The space (approximately 300 square metres) was fairly non-descript. The scheme was black and white, with a white stone bench at reception," Martin says.
While Martin did not make big structural changes, given the brief and time period, his task was to create an environment that would respond to his client's work practices. Sonoa Health's clients rarely visit the office, so a traditional reception area would have been superfluous. Instead there is an oak-clad reception nook at front of house, used by staff rather than clients. And with space created by removing a stone bench, there is sufficient room for a bench-style meeting table and stools.
"Standing meetings are now quite common. They're often quick and informal, more of a catch-up," Martin says. To add texture to the space, Martin clad the wall with floorboards.
Martin's clients suggested he looked at Google's offices worldwide as a starting point for his design. Their colourful interiors are also informal and respond to the way Sonoa's Health's staff operate. So, along with the bench, there is a break-out space in what was previously the reception area, with comfortable chairs and a deep-seated chunky sofa, the latter designed by Martin.
Although the colourful seating, in shades of orange and red, animate the space, it is the super graphics on the glass and walls that truly energise the fit-out. "I drew inspiration from the work of American abstractionist Sol LeWitt," says Martin, who spent eight years working as an architect in New York.
LeWitt's influence is expressed on the masonry walls and glass that delineates what is one of the office's creative hubs. Bold zigzag stripes, in shades of green, teal and pale green, surround a bright-red table with 10 workstations.
"The red represents the body parts, if you can imagine a surgeon focusing on his patient, while the teal green suggests the colour of the surgery gowns. Like the surgeons, the creative team can't endure the intensity of red. They need relief in other colours," says Martin.
The staff at Sonoa Health work extremely closely together because the animations they produce need to have a strong signature that appears to come from just one hand. As explained by Martin, and written on a whiteboard, "a glob of ear wax from Stan's ear has to appear in the same style as the small intestine".
"There is continual movement around the offices, given the detail and need for consistency," Martin says.
For Martin, the challenge was not only delivering on time, but also creating flexible spaces that could be reconfigured as the company grows. "This office [with the bold stripes] could easily become a boardroom, or even a break-out area. Each space has to be multifunctional."
