Gallery Post // Birkenstock HQ by Melbourne Design Studios.

Project Name: Birkenstock HQ.
Location: Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Australia.
Designers: Melbourne Design Studios.
Photography: Peter Clarke

The Birkenstock HQ in Melbourne is an architectural translation of the company’s core values: sustainability, quality and craftsmanship. Melbourne Design Studios took the project on with wholehearted enthusiasm, creating a retail, wholesale and workshop space that sings true to the essence of Birkenstock. While making a ‘green environmentʼ within an existing building is harder than in a new-built, the designers have created a proudly sustainable space.

As well as being in line with Birkenstock’s environmental values, the design works to show the companyʼs honest structure. There is a sense of transparency that continues throughout the entire design, where retail, wholesale, storage and online business are all open to each other, rather than being separate units. This sense of community was a central aspect to the brief; Birkenstock wanted a retail space that connected the different facets of the business, envisioning a new way for retail. To ensure there’s continuous mixing of teams and the company culture remains one whole, the staff amenities, for example, are situated half-up half-down between the levels, meaning retail and wholesale staff ʻmeet in the middle,’ and the main entrance for everyone is the shopfront itself.

[Photography by Peter Clarke.]