Not Nothing (New)

A small, highly intentional adaptive-reuse project that uses Envirotecture’s own workplace as a testing ground for the practice’s values: retaining and improving existing buildings; challenging the waste inherent in conventional fitouts; prioritising reuse and upcycling before new procurement; using biogenic, recycled and low-toxicity materials; improving indoor environmental quality; and demonstrating that architectural richness can come from doing more with what already exists, rather than simply consuming more.

Envirotecture had deliberately been looking for an existing space in a heritage building, rather than a new building. Once this particular Ultimo property was secured, the fitout began with the explicit challenge “use nothing new” - as a practical exploration of avoiding waste, retaining existing building fabric, reusing and upcycling materials, and improving an existing building for a more comfortable, efficient and resilient future.

Not Nothing (New) is Envirotecture testing its own principles on itself. Rather than designing a showcase office from a blank slate, the practice deliberately chose an existing building and asked how little new material a contemporary workplace really requires. The fitout becomes both workplace and experiment - retaining what works, finding new lives for what already exists, introducing natural and recycled materials only where intervention is needed, and improving comfort and indoor environmental quality without erasing the building's history. 

Big thanks to Nick Sowden and team from Sowden Constructions for building the hempcrete walls, and Red Cedar Constructions for interior fitout.

Professional photos to follow... watch this space!
Check out video below for timelapse footage of the hempcrete install, and an interview with our directors about the features of this unique retrofit.