Forum Workspace: Where Design Becomes Dialogue
The spaces we create reveal not only who we are but also who we aspire to be. At its best, architecture becomes conversation, between past and present, between human intention and built form, between individual and collective. In Forum Workspace, this dialogue is explicit. Here, the interior is not merely a shell for work, it is a stage, a forum in both name and spirit, where ideas are exchanged, rhythms emerge, and a community takes shape.
“Light, tactility, and hospitality, a new language for coworking.”
Located in Melbourne’s Cremorne precinct, Forum spans approximately 2,730 m² across two levels within Sixty-Five Dover. Fieldwork shaped the architecture, Fortis guided the development, and Foolscap Studio brought the interior narrative to life. The project targets a 5 Green Star rating and a 4.5 NABERS rating, embedding sustainable thinking across energy use, water conservation, and indoor environmental quality. The brief began with deliberate simplicity, a name and a demographic. From there, design became the primary tool for shaping identity, spatial logic, and user experience.
The word forum originates from ancient Rome: the civic square where people gathered to trade, debate, and connect. It was a place where work, culture, and conversation coexisted. Forum Workspace takes this historical typology and reinterprets it for contemporary Melbourne, creating a setting where people don’t just work, but meet, share, and belong.
Stepping out of the lift, visitors enter a tiered cork landscape, part amphitheatre, part living room, designed for pausing, observing, or sparking discussion. Levels rise and fall gently like natural terrain, guiding movement intuitively. Columns wrapped in travertine line the corridor like a modern colonnade, framing subtle thresholds. Above, a vaulted ceiling diffuses daylight into a soft, even glow, inviting calm. A sculpted staircase anchors the centre of the space, connecting the two levels visually and socially. From above, the everyday rhythm unfolds: people moving, talking, collaborating, much like the communal energy of the ancient forum.
Every detail at Forum is considered to elevate daily rituals. Natural light glides across travertine and timber. Acoustic comfort is supported by wood-wool paneling. The scent of coffee drifts through the kitchen. Each material, from cork underfoot to linen and stone, balances refinement with warmth, encouraging touch and slowing the pace. This material language marks a shift away from the industrial aesthetic common in coworking. Instead, Forum offers a lighter, more composed environment. Calm, tactile, and quietly luxurious.
Forum’s spatial rhythm flows seamlessly between focus and connection, with members moving effortlessly through zones designed for different moods and moments, from the concave-walled library with its reading nooks and artefacts, to the kitchen and dining area that encourage conversation, the lounges that invite spontaneous encounters, and the wellness rooms that offer moments of retreat. Even the golf simulator and community bar, playful as they are, reflect a broader philosophy that leisure, connection, and rest are not interruptions to productivity but integral to it.
“Good design does more than enable work, it elevates the rituals that surround it.”
Co-conceived by Foolscap Studio, Fortis, and The Commons, Forum is tailored to Cremorne’s expanding network of startups, creatives, and design-conscious professionals. Beyond the workspace itself, the broader precinct includes premium end-of-trip facilities, Baker Bleu hospitality, a basketball court, and a rooftop for yoga or evening gatherings. This ecosystem strengthens Forum’s identity as a cultural hub embedded within a wider community landscape.
Inspired by the spirit of the Roman forum, the design leans into tactile materials, cork, travertine, timber, and linen, forming a warm and grounded palette. The openness of the plan keeps the space feeling fluid and intuitive, allowing work, conversation, and gathering to unfold with ease throughout the day.
Light itself becomes part of the design language, treated not as a fixture but as a collaborator. The vaulted ceiling captures and diffuses sunlight throughout the day, while curved geometries allow it to flow gently across surfaces. As daylight shifts, so does the character of the space, bright and energised in the morning, warm and contemplative in the afternoon.
The result is a workplace that feels alive, a space that breathes with its people, inspiring focus, calm, and connection in equal measure, where architecture and atmosphere intertwine to remind us that the spaces we inhabit shape the way we live, think, and connect.
Forum Workspace is more than an office, it is a spatial proposition where design becomes dialogue, and community becomes culture. Through its thresholds, materials, and light, it invites participation, connection, and a sense of belonging, a thoughtful benchmark in Australia’s evolving landscape of work.
Project Date: May 2024
Project credits
Interior Design: Foolscap
Architecture: Fieldwork
Developer: Fortis
Builder: Renascent
Photography: Martina Gemmola
