FirstCape, Auckland
FirstCape's new workplace sits across Levels 28 and 29 of Auckland's HSBC Tower, with the Waitematā Harbour and the Auckland Harbour Bridge filling the windows.
Working with Jasmax, the brief was to shape two levels that move people easily between focused work and time spent together. Jacobsen supplied the flooring that carries that intent from the lift lobby through to the quietest meeting room, led by the Shaw Contract Community collection and Aspecta Elemental XL in Bolsena.
The Community collection was made for a brief like this one. Its starting point is that design can build community by creating communal spaces that draw people together, and that these spaces have to flex as the way we work keeps changing. Four core products were designed to sit in harmony with one another, spanning textured and plush carpet tile, broadloom available as rugs and a matching hard surface, which gives a design team room to move without losing a consistent palette. At FirstCape that range does its work through the meeting rooms, focus booths and softer collaboration settings.
Three carpets from the collection anchor these areas.
Shaw Contract Community Back Weave Crafted brings a textured, crafted surface to the shared spaces, while Community Flat Weave Wool and Community Flat Weave Medina hold a finer, calmer weave beneath the meeting tables and breakout seating.
Read together they let Jasmax layer tone rather than pattern, the flecked oatmeal and soft greys of the carpet grounding the deep forest green felt, olive velvet and tan leather that give each setting its character. The effect is warm and natural at this height above the harbour.
Through reception, the refurbished Level 28 lift lobby and the main circulation and cafe, Aspecta Elemental XL in Bolsena takes over. The Elemental XL plank uses a Duraspect finish and in-register embossing to hold the look and feel of timber while standing up to the traffic these areas see every day. In Bolsena it reads as a light oak that runs continuously through the busiest parts of the floor, linking the front of house to the harbour light and the timber panelling around it.
Across both levels the flooring does the quiet work of connection, holding a single palette while each space is free to shift in mood. Planting, harbour views and a considered material story do the rest.
The fit-out was designed by Jasmax and constructed by Black.
