Athena
Bringing home to work
Athena — Sydney, NSW
When we first met the team from Athena Home Loans it was clear that they weren’t a typical home loan brand. They spoke with passion about ‘Athena, the Game-Changing Goddess of Good Stuff’ and how life was too short for a long home loan.
The founders Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkley along with Chief of People and Community Liana Mawston emphasised that they wanted an inviting space that was anything but corporate.
The two storey space at 347 Kent Street had been on the market for some time. The space comprised of three separate tenancies that had been stitched together which brought with it heritage and contemporary features including a sunken floor and a particularly unfriendly interconnecting stair. An outdoor deck for social events and collaboration was an added bonus.
We began by creating the facade of a home at the entry including timber decking, letterbox and suspended porch swings. This space sends a strong message that you have arrived at the home of Athena.
When you step into the space the warmth and ambience of the home continues. We demolished the existing stair and created a larger void and designed a pink stair to enable flow between the two floors. The colours and finishes are bright and lively with an abundance of planting for wellbeing.
The kitchen/breakout is positioned at the top of the stairs and is adjacent to the outdoor deck. The breakout flows into a large All Hands area with tiered seating and reconfigurable furniture to cater for a variety of settings and the kitchen comes with a pair of Athenian columns!
We designed the meeting rooms to wrap around the All Hands space. With floor to ceiling glass and vistas into the meeting rooms, this space is dynamic and flexible.
Athena was keen to create a graphic design language that spoke to their ‘game changing’ philosophy. We were lucky to partner again with We Buy Your Kids for the graphic scope. They created a set of game changing characters including Cathy Freeman, Beyonce, David Bowie and David Attenborough and the colours and patterns complement the interior.
This project was delivered during one of the longer COVID lockdowns of 2021 and as a result had some challenges however the project team collaborated with humour and hard work to create a fun, lively and inviting home for Athena.
Photography by Andrew Worssam
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