Case study · Member organisation

NSW Teachers Federation, Surry Hills

A 530 square metre workplace on Level 4 of the heritage-listed Federation House, redesigned around the wellbeing and mental health of the team. Valeo Technology designed the soundscape and the audio infrastructure behind it, alongside Geyer Valmont.

The central social space at the NSW Teachers Federation, with the kitchen island, the graphic wall and the exposed timber columns — The central social space, directly off the entry. Pendant loudspeakers sit in the open ceiling above it. Photography by Geyer Valmont.

Project details

Client: NSW Teachers Federation
Location: Level 4, Federation House, Surry Hills, Sydney
Sector: Member organisation, workplace
Size: 530 m²
Valeo Technology role: Soundscape design, audio infrastructure design, commissioning, and coordination of the installation partner alongside Geyer Valmont
Design practice: Geyer Valmont
Installation partner: ADM
Loudspeakers: Bose, pendant under the open ceiling and in-ceiling under the tile ceiling
Spaces: Central social space with the kitchen, wellness space (the meditation lounge), two work areas, and perimeter meeting rooms

The challenge

A wellbeing brief in a hard room

The brief was explicit about wellbeing and mental health, and the building's acoustics worked against it. Level 4 of Federation House had been the Federation’s home for more than 20 years and had become segregated through many small changes over time, inside a heritage structure whose original columns, beams and brick were to be exposed as the centre of the new design.

The design retained the exposed brick, columns and beams, and those are hard, reflective surfaces on every plane, with nothing to stop speech carrying. Stripping them back took ten days of sandblasting from height under air monitoring, because the old paint contained lead. Having gone to that length to reveal the brick, the design kept it exposed, so the acoustic design had to work with those surfaces rather than over them. And a floor planned deliberately with no dead ends moves people and sound alike.

The approach

Soundscaping around the retained fabric

The soundscape was integrated without covering the exposed heritage surfaces. Reverberation treatment remained a separate acoustic consideration.

Geyer Valmont placed the social space at the heart of the floor, directly off the entry, where the natural light is brightest, and let the light fall away towards the perimeter meeting rooms, which are deliberately darker for concentration and deep thinking. The soundscape follows the same gradient. Content with more life sits in the central social space around the kitchen; calmer, more continuous material runs through the two work areas and the wellness space, the meditation lounge the design encloses with soft curtains. The point of a wellbeing brief is not a quiet building, it is a building that feels settled, and those are different targets.

A work area at the NSW Teachers Federation, with upholstered booths, glazed meeting rooms and the original timber columns — One of the two work areas, where the content is calmer and more continuous.

The meditation lounge at the NSW Teachers Federation, enclosed by a sheer curtain beside the heritage windows — The wellness space, the meditation lounge the design encloses with soft curtains.

The infrastructure

Designed for the ceiling we were given

We designed the audio infrastructure as well as the soundscape, working with Geyer Valmont to design sound into the space rather than add it afterwards.

The loudspeakers are all Bose, pendant where the ceiling is open and in-ceiling where there is a tile ceiling, so the loudspeaker type followed the ceiling in each area. The installation went through ADM, one of our regular partners, agreed with Geyer Valmont.

A perimeter meeting room at the NSW Teachers Federation, with exposed brick, heritage windows and a tile ceiling — A perimeter room: exposed brick and a tile ceiling, so in-ceiling loudspeakers here.

The graphic wall along the communal space at the NSW Teachers Federation, with the terrazzo kitchen bench and timber tables — The graphic wall along the communal space, the last thing the team sees as they leave.

Why it matters

Heritage and acoustic comfort can pull against each other

This project shows how soundscaping equipment and content can be coordinated with a design that retains exposed heritage fabric: the brick stays exposed, and the floor still supports the work. It is the same argument as the embodied-carbon one on our cost case, arriving from a different direction, and it is the reason this project is worth reading if you have a heritage floor and a wellbeing brief.

The cost case →Speech privacy on heritage floors →

Coverage

The design account

NSW Teachers Federation

Geyer Valmont, the design practice. Their account of the brief, the “no dead ends” plan, the heritage strip-back, the light strategy, the graphic wall along the communal space, and the floor area and spaces. Photography by Geyer Valmont.

Floor area, spaces, heritage works and design intent as published by Geyer Valmont, the design practice. Photography by Geyer Valmont. The scope description above is Valeo Technology’s own account of the work.

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