Microsoft HQ

Ingenuity can ignite when we dare to flip the expected. Located within 1 Denison Street in North Sydney, the new Microsoft Australia Head Office breaks the mould of a traditional workplace and is a fully immersive experience. Designed to reflect places of awe and wonder within the Australian natural landscape, the workplace provides a journey of discovery from parametric walls that mimic the Figure 8 Pools, with reflective ceilings to represent the rippling effect of the water, to cave-like environments and tunnels of greenery.    The collective expertise of the GroupGSA team has delivered a bold, future-shaping workspace that veers confidently away from the archetypal tech office.   Providing two floors of customer interface and learning facilities, the workplace includes benchmark wellness facilities, studio and editing suites, an immersive live-stream cylinder, an X-Box Room and neighbourhoods designed to support a diversity of operational and development functions, the design puts people firmly at the centre. Five work floors are linked by an interconnecting stair providing visual connectivity and encouraging collaboration through all levels. The stair is illuminated via a digital art installation which runs continuously through all floors and references Microsoft’s digital code. The programmable installation provides Microsoft the opportunity to inform the mood of the environment, reflect the weather, or interact with the activity of users traversing through the levels.    The environment delivers a benchmark outcome for Microsoft in the context of environmental performance and wellbeing, embedded with strong biophilic references to benefit all users. Elevating the concept of collaborative workspaces and delivering an industry exemplar in the provision of focus space for quiet concentration work, the design raises the technology workplace bar. Traditional Custodians of Land: Cammeraygal Consultants: Project Manager: Colliers  Construction/Builder: MPA  Structural Engineer: Aurecon  Services Engineer Medland Engineering  Acoustic Engineer: White Noise  Electrical/Hydraulic/Mechanical/Services Engineer: Medland Engineering  Fire Engineer: MCD Fire Engineering