Airbnb Offices – Sydney

Firm
  • Client Airbnb,
  • size 3,767 sqft
  • Year 2016
  • Location Sydney, Australia,
  • Industry Technology,
  • The Bold Collective has collaborated with Rachael Yu & Aaron Taylor Harvey to develop the new offices of the global community-driven hospitality company Airbnb in Sydney.

    The Airbnb ethos is to celebrate the many different regions it operates within and for this to be reflected in the open workplace areas. Consequently a sense of Sydney and Australia is communicated through the materials and forms within the space. The brief from the team was to ensure the new workplace allowed their existing strong culture to thrive and develop. Airbnb Australia Country Manager Sam McDonagh explained that the new Sydney office needed to capture “what we value as a company: creativity, travel and thoughtful design”.

    The AFL goal posts on entry are a nod to a sports mad Australian culture. Furthermore the kitchen & breakout spaces have been inspired by beach aesthetics with an emphasis on whites and light coloured timbers along with woven cane pendants. We were encouraged to support local design and specify materials that were locally sourced that had history and narrative. The workplace includes furniture sourced from a variety of talented local designers and manufactures, many of which have an environmental and sustainable approach.

    By the very nature of what Airbnb represents, hospitality was key to the design and the kitchen / breakout areas were central to the overall design and the solution needed to ensure the Sydney team could be great hosts.

    And last but not least…the Listing Rooms. Very rarely does such a great design brief come along and when we were asked to theme meeting rooms based on Airbnb Listings, we jumped up and down with joy! The local Airbnb team selected particular listings from around the world and this long list was culled down to three. These included a Kangaroo Valley lounge / dining room, a Havana dining room and a Swedish (Betso) sitting room. Once the respective hosts had provided permission we identified the key materials and elements that would help recreate these rooms and bring them to life.

    Design: The Bold Collective with Rachael Yu & Aaron Taylor Harvey (Environments Designers at Airbnb)
    Styling Assistance: Peter Alcock from Tarnby Design
    Photography: James Horan