Dayorama Lift cars
The lift cars at St James act as the gateway and transition zone to the inner core of the St James project redevelopment.
6 Lift Car Fit Outs
St James, 555 Bourke Street Melbourne, Victoria
Design Team: Simone LeAmon, Edmund Carter of Carter LeAmon
Typography: Ty Bukewitsch
Client Juilliard Group
Built 2013
“Lift cars are the modern equivalent of an arrival archway, registering the entrance to a new space and a new domain. An important stage in the arrival and departure of a journey, people enter a space where all other experiences of the building are momentarily suspended.” – Simone LeAmon
Engaged in 2009 by the Juilliard Group to develop concept designs for the refurbishment of six lift cars within the St James redevelopment in Melbourne’s CBD, Simone LeAmon collaborated with Edmund Carter on the Dayorama scheme which features animated electroluminescent artworks, Corian and timber veneer wall panelling, custom handrails and LED lighting.
The lift cars at St James act as the gateway and transition zone to the inner core of the St James project redeveloped by project architects Metier 3. As such they presented a unique opportunity to prepare the visitor or employee for the experience of the building and workplace. Further, it was proposed that the lift cars be stand-alone design-art encounters and distinguishable from all other interiors in the commercial precinct.
An opportunity to draw on the history and heritage of the lift car as a bespoke interior that enabled the modern city – the Dayorama project aimed to recapture some of the early ‘magic’ of the lift car and revisit the practice of embedding cars with narrative and craft sensibilities. The aesthetic appeal of the Dayorama lift cars is reminiscent of the ‘golden age’ of vertical transportation at the beginning of the 20th century, influenced by the Art Deco period. Contemporary fabrication methods and technology firmly place the design in the present.
Above all the Dayorma project is about harnessing the travel time we spend in a lift car to enable an experience – that in some small way can transform how we feel and think about our day at work.
“Recalled and pondered in the company of work and working the days of the week have been explored in distinct ways to inform key design features of the Dayorama scheme. Each lift car is a conversation – SMALLTALK, NETWORKING, WORKSONG, NEWSWEEK, DAYCARE and HOMEWORK – explore the ups and downs of work-life” – Simone LeAmon
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