Connecting people across a complex site
At the edge of Melbourne’s CBD, 664 Collins Street and 699 Bourke Street sit above the southern platforms of Southern Cross Station. While technically two separate buildings, the development forms a unified commercial precinct that bridges the city grid and the Docklands. Our task was to make that connection feel effortless for the people moving through it.
Project
664 Collins & 699 Bourke
Client
Grimshaw Architects
Collaborators
MIRVAC
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Size
Project Build Cost
Focus
Wayfinding
Placemaking
User Experience
We developed a placemaking and wayfinding strategy for the public realm walkway that links the two buildings—part of the original Southern Cross masterplan. Rather than a generic passageway, this space became a continuous experience, with visual cues and subtle orientation tools woven throughout.
At each entry, we created landmark elements to signal arrival. Inside the corridor, our industrial designers developed a custom suite of urban furniture, tailored to the architectural rhythm of the site. The frames of each piece were colour-coded to reflect their location—creating a gentle gradient effect across the walkway. As people move through the space, the colour shift signals progress and direction without requiring a sign to explain it. It’s intuitive, visual navigation that helps people understand they’re headed somewhere specific.
This gradual colour transition became both a placemaking gesture and a functional wayfinding tool—helping people move through a long, narrow space with clarity and confidence.
This project brought together architecture, infrastructure, and user experience on one of the city’s most complex commercial sites—bridging rail lines, public spaces, and private tenancies with one continuous, human-centred system.
