Cunningham Street: A Golden Ticket Workplace

Make has transformed a former chocolate factory in the Haymarket district of Sydney into a boutique office building. Built in the early 1900s, the building’s character forms the heart of the project, and the design has retained as much of the original fabric of the 3-storey building as possible, including the steel beams, timber flooring, exposed brickwork and original hoists. New materials such as copper, concrete and terrazzo – all sourced from within Australia – were chosen to contrast with the old.

The brick facade has been painted and a new copper and steel portal door forms the main entrance. The original roller shutter entrance has been replaced with a bespoke double-height reeded glass and steel door that slides up, opening the entrance lobby to the street. When shut, the glass becomes a warmly illuminated lightbox at night.

Inside, the lobby accommodates a new mezzanine with a full-height reeded glass wall and a dedicated stair in black folded steel. The main stairwell appears as a polished copper box with the stair inserted; at level 1 the copper transitions to glass and steel to maximise light. A tucked-away lift serves all floors, including the mezzanine.

The office floorplates have been kept minimal, with exposed brick walls and subtle lighting highlighting the structure. The first and second floors feature new engineered oak floorboards, while the original boards form the exposed ceilings below.

A Golden Ticket Workplace: Cunningham Street