The Galen is located within a lush green Science Park, an area designed to house chemical, life sciences and IT companies. The project explores the relationship between lobby, building, garden and public realm along with a green area bounding the immediate site.

Elevating the sense of arrival, the building’s columns have been highlighted and become an accent for the space. Breaking away from the geometric forms of the architecture, curves and circular shapes have been introduced to mark the space with a more humanistic design.

The Galen is a welcoming environment that invites socialising. It contains a lounge area, individual workspaces and group meeting pavilions. A third area, the renovated space, is for people to gather, with soft seating and hospitality-like areas such as meeting rooms and collaborative tables. By using conference rooms or other spaces as a vestibule, it is possible for users to have access to outdoor views and sunlight.

Structuring the space into volumes, the pillars divide the floorplate organically, connecting one zone to another, creating spatial continuity.

Sustainability was essential to the design and space is maximised efficiently. The interior was prioritised with glass surfaces to maximise daylight, a warm colour palette influenced by the landscape and natural materials such as timber flooring and wood grain cladding. LEDs were chosen for the serpentine lighting installation for longevity and to save energy. The organic fractals in the art panels were manually chosen to create a random pattern and refer to the surrounding greenery.

Through this adaptive use, The Galen engages with the community without maximising the footprint. Rather than allowing the building to remain insular and self-contained, the transformed ground floor is now integrated and contributing to the surrounding community.

Furniture: Keith Melbourne and Akaba from Stylecraft, +Halle from MTM Solutions. Lighting: Zava Luce from Flair Illume. Finishes: Pure interior, Solaris, Designtex, Steelcase, 3M, Rice Fields PTE LTD, Mohawk carpet (SMJ PTE LTD).

Photography: Owen Raggett