Dulux Colour Awards 2023
Commercial Interior – Workplace and Retail
This category recognises the best interior paint finishes of any commercial or industrial building such as offices, studios, factories, retail outlets, pop-up retail and shopping centres.
Commercial Interior – Workplace and Retail Winner
Trower Falvo Architects with Alessio Fini
Postal Hall, Perth, Western Australia
About the project
The Postal Hall bookshop is a demountable unit that provides flexibility for when the space is required for large events.
Small, independent modules connect to form the bookshop as an ensemble. The interior featured tiered shelving and storage for the bookshop while the exterior provides an area for informal use by the public and surrounding tenancies.
A conceptual counterpoint to the stabilising hardwood-faced plywood base (a reference to the former interior post office), is the top, lightweight ‘kite’ of the modules, where the language of kite componentry dictated the material choices of tube, cross clamps, key rings and wire cables.
The Postal Hall bookshop’s construction and material expression suggest the duality of permanence and temporality for a demountable bookshop operating as a part of a commercial reality that is equally grounded in the public realm.
What the judges said...
“Unanimously commended, this bookshop, within the century-old Postal Hall at the heart of Perth’s State Buildings complex, is another hugely successful example of the impact of a singular colour. Negotiating programmatic demands requiring flexibility and versatility due to the dual usage as a public space, the demountable retail entity balances permanence and temporality,” says judge Byron George. “This response is strong and sophisticated: the sage green of the shelving modules against the white canvas tones is refined and striking, complementing the heritage context while establishing its own distinctly contemporary identity. Combined with the pops of blue furniture around the bookstore’s perimeter, there is a joy and beauty to this unique project. It is cohesive, compelling, and extremely clever.”
The winning palette
Inside Postal Hall
Commendation
About the project
Insight Body and Mind is a wellness space combining psychology and mindful movement to inspire positive change. Redefining the existing Insight Body and Mind psychology brand through a material and colour narrative has resulted in an elevated spatial experience has been created that is designed to nurture the body and mind as one.
What the judges said...
“True to its intention to nurture the body and mind, this wellness studio feels harmonious, soothing and inviting. Colour-saturated spaces, spanning cool greys to warm tans, rusty reds and deep greens, are uniquely divided according to function, but what distinguishes this scheme from similar typologies is the judicious juxtaposition of colour and material: where joinery meets a rendered wall, which in turn bleeds seamlessly into an upholstered bench or a painted ceiling,” judge Byron George says. “Sleek and sophisticated, it immediately signals the design contention of a premium brand, albeit without pretention, for our impression is that it sustains the approachable comfort level required for the success of a space in which users are encouraged to maintain open hearts and minds.”