TERRAIN

The design process for TERRAIN was initiated and led entirely in-house by founder Cristina Napoleone, following an iterative, research-driven, and collaborative methodology.

Rather than outsource, Cristina embedded the design deeply within the mission of TERRAIN itself – using the space as a living lab for transdisciplinary experimentation across ecology, design, and public engagement.

The process began with a conceptual framework grounded in geographic thinking: drawing inspiration from underground networks and caves as ancient forms of refuge and knowledge exchange.

Material selections and spatial layouts evolved through consultation with local makers, scientists, and community members – prioritising proximity, traceability, and low toxicity.

All prototyping and fabrication occurred in Naarm/Melbourne or nearby, with one partner in Eora/Sydney. Circularity, carbon reduction, and sensory experience were the north stars.

Materials included mycelium-grown lights, algae-based bioplastics, recycled HDPE and aluminium joinery, secondhand lighting and office furniture, and custom lime plaster textured with construction debris and local polymer waste.

Every system was tested for functionality, legibility, and ability to spark curiosity. Aesthetic decisions supported material honesty and imperfection as ecological values.

The walls patina over time. The blinds shift in hue, where nothing hides the story of its making.

Throughout, the space was tested with users: as a retail shop, event venue, reading room, co-working studio, and place of refuge. Feedback loops shaped the final layout and systems.

Since launch, new features have continued to evolve – such as the interactive motion-activated soundscape. Every element was crafted to align physical infrastructure with cultural impact.

The process offers a replicable framework for ethical, community-rooted architecture responsive to both planetary urgencies and local opportunities.

TERRAIN exemplifies design excellence by embedding ecological ethics into a finely resolved spatial experience. It meets and exceeds all core criteria: functionality, sustainability, quality, accessibility, and public relevance.

The interior serves diverse modes – reading, learning, gathering, co-working – while remaining materially expressive and intuitively navigable.

The space is modular and multi-sensory, with seven custom aluminium benches enabling flexible programming. Acoustic and thermal comfort is enhanced through a breathable lime plaster finish and textured recycled aggregate surfaces.

Lighting is layered for both ambience and function. Every detail, from joinery to wall finishes, supports inclusive use and sensorial richness.

TERRAIN’s user experience goes beyond functionality. The space invites exploration, delight, and learning. Its ecological story is legible in every gesture – with printed guides, tactile surfaces, and events that decode the systems at play.

Visitors often stay for hours. Some return weekly. A volunteer exchange lets the community co-shape the space.

The result is a contemporary civic interior that breaks from both retail norms and institutional minimalism. It embraces irregularity, emotion, and embedded knowledge. It is bold yet soft, and deeply intentional.

As a business, TERRAIN is rapidly growing with new clients, collaborators, and partnerships drawn by the space itself. Professionally executed and built on a modest budget, TERRAIN was delivered through a network of skilled artisans and makers.

The fitout elevates the status of reused, grown, and waste-derived materials – setting a new benchmark for high-performance, low-carbon, and culturally resonant design in Australia.

By turning an 1888 shopfront into a public-facing blueprint for planetary futures, TERRAIN demonstrates that design can be both unique and ethical. It reframes architecture not just as a service or product, but as a cultural and ecological act.

TERRAIN is the first space of its kind in Australia – and among the first globally – to integrate experimental biomaterials, low-carbon systems, and public education into a working civic interior. Innovation is embedded at every level.

Algae-based bioplastic panel blinds were developed in collaboration with Other Matter and installed as sliding, UV-reactive modular screens – the first commercial application of their kind worldwide.

Mycelium lights, designed with Josh Riesel, combine grown material with compliant fittings – another Australian first.

Recycled HDPE and aluminium joinery was custom-fabricated with Defy Design and Old Four Legs.

Even lime plaster walls are reimagined: volumetric surfaces made from site debris and polymer waste, layered with zero-VOC natural lime for breathability, hygiene, acoustic performance, and patina.

But innovation isn’t limited to materials. TERRAIN also rethinks infrastructure.

A self-hosted renewably powered digital server runs the studio’s website and evolving installations. Sound is generated through motion detection from the CCTV cameras and books are categorised using elemental taxonomies.

The space operates as both functional environment and design prototype. All systems are tested in live use – sun protection, joinery wear, user feedback, engagement levels – and iterated in response with flyers explaining each feature, and community activations exploring them further.

Crucially, TERRAIN transforms innovation into invitation. Design is not just seen – it is felt, questioned, co-owned. Every element supports its mission: to spark ecological literacy, care, and curiosity in a time of climate collapse.

Scalable in logic and spirit, TERRAIN offers a replicable model for decentralised, values-led, materially experimental civic architecture. It makes visible a path forward through systems that invite people to stay, learn, and reimagine how we relate to each other and our living world.

TERRAIN delivers lasting impact by transforming a heritage storefront into a living blueprint for ecological care – socially, environmentally, and economically.

Socially, TERRAIN restores a rare kind of public space: a civic interior where people can gather, slow down, and think deeply about our collective future. Visitors often stay for 1–2+ hours. The space fosters new friendships, collaborations, and shared action.

Free events and a volunteer exchange program offer low-barrier access to resources, mentorship, and studio facilities – supporting inclusion and participation.

Environmentally, the space demonstrates radical reduction in material footprint. All materials were reclaimed, grown, or recycled.

Algae-based bioplastics, recycled aluminium and HDPE, and mycelium composites replaced conventional options. Lime plaster and recycled aggregate walls regulate humidity, reduce energy use, and eliminate toxins.

Every design decision was guided by lifecycle impacts – from embodied carbon to air quality and repairability. The project also diverts waste in real-time. On-site waste is repurposed into material experiments.

Packing materials become insulation or display tools. Water re-extracted during plaster curing was reused to support local gardens, helping restore soil balance from the elevated pH of lime.

Culturally, TERRAIN reframes sustainability as sensorial, relational, and joyful. It counters climate anxiety with creativity and care.

Through its bookshop and events, it communicates complex ideas accessibly – reaching designers, scientists, students, and the general public. TERRAIN strengthens civic cohesion and wellbeing, particularly in a time of ecological crisis.

Economically, TERRAIN is self-sustaining and growing – attracting clients and collaborators across design, industry, and research. It proves that spaces aligned with planetary ethics can be commercially viable while generating collective good.

At every level, TERRAIN integrates architecture with ecological thinking. It is a project that shifts expectations, enables literacy, and models how interiors can serve as beacons of planetary possibility.

Elevating sustainability beyond compliance, TERRAIN’s interior is modular, multipurpose and A/V-equipped for community events.

The space is a blueprint for sustainability, with literature and printed material detailing systems and concepts to promote material education across physical and digital projects.

This fit-out process emphasises how all relevant design today must take responsibility for impacts with the building industry responsible for 39% of global-CO2 emissions alone.

TERRAIN actively investigated how projects may double in their applications by integrating environmental mitigation from waste material utilisation, material efficiency, decarbonising materials and even bioremediation in their design and application.

With this approach to materiality, TERRAIN was able to bring alive this vision in providing a contemplative community space that educates and sparks joy for our living world, whilst minimising harm.

As Sir David Attenborough notes, ‘Saving our planet is now a communications challenge.’ TERRAIN responds by creating a dedicated, welcoming, and independent space to explore ecological ideas through spatial design, public engagement, and material experimentation.

It offers a new kind of third space – where contemplation, curiosity, and collaboration can flourish in service of planetary care. Social and environmental justice are interdependent.

As a publicly accessible hub, TERRAIN supports the creation of strong and resilient communities while reducing material and operational impact.

Designed for participation and exchange, it enables growth, learning, and collaboration across disciplines – serving as both refuge and antidote to the collective overwhelm of the ecological crisis.

TERRAIN offers a blueprint for design-led environmental leadership. The space is modular, circular, and locally made.

Key features include mycelium-grown lights, algae-based bioplastic panel blinds, zero-VOC lime plaster, a terrarium wall, and furnishings made from recycled HDPE and aluminium.

All components were selected for low toxicity, durability, and circularity. Construction was powered by renewable energy, with on-site waste reused or transformed.