TERRAIN

The design process behind TERRAIN took an ecosystemic approach – mapping interdependent systems, stakeholders, and values to generate a model that could simultaneously serve as space, service, and signal. Beginning with spatial strategy and experience design, the process embedded user needs into every layer – from how books are categorised to how community members access and co-create programming.

Rooted in geography and ecological ethics, TERRAIN’s founder Cristina Napoleone led a research and prototyping process that tested not just physical layouts, but systems of communication, volunteering, and programming. Studio revenue is diversified across book sales, space hire, memberships, workshops, and consulting – yet remains cohesive and community-facing.

Physical services (bookshop, gallery, studio) were designed in tandem with relational systems: booking tools, social enterprise protocols, community partnerships, and volunteer exchanges. Each system was pressure-tested through live events, feedback loops, and iteration.

The bookshop runs on a flexible POS, volunteer-run hours, and a categorisation system based on the elemental taxonomy five with additional curated genres. The Bioassembly, meanwhile, uses a digital waitlist, risk assessment systems, consent forms, partner agreements, and regenerative activity planning to deliver community outings across varied terrains. Studio time is offered via flexible licensing and volunteer exchange.

All programs are documented through printed guides, newsletters, and open-source flyers, allowing TERRAIN’s service model to operate as both a business and a replicable pedagogical tool. Behind the scenes, workflows are mapped and automated using Asana. Systems are designed to scale with minimal overhead, supporting slow growth without compromising care.

TERRAIN’s design process transforms service into stewardship – carefully calibrating physical, digital, and ecological systems to support community resilience and planetary imagination in a future-focused social enterprise.

TERRAIN meets and exceeds the criteria for good service design by uniting ecological integrity with operational clarity and community empowerment. Its design prioritises function, inclusivity, beauty, and behavioural change – ensuring each component of the system is legible, accessible, and participatory.

The physical environment was designed as a tactile interface – books and displays are at human height, all furniture is modular and moveable, and events can be reconfigured within minutes. Meanwhile, the digital backend (including booking tools, event RSVPs, newsletter flows, and volunteer scheduling) is low-friction and cohesive. User experience is woven into every service component.

Studio residents gain 24/7 access and operational autonomy. Bookshop volunteers are rewarded with studio access or mentorship. Visitors find printed flyers, material guides, and category signage that supports self-guided learning. All TERRAIN services are available to the public without need for prior knowledge or affiliation.

Each touchpoint – from Bioassembly registration to a casual browse – has been designed to feel welcoming, intuitive, and values-aligned. Book categorisation draws on environmental systems (e.g., Earth, Fire, Water) rather than rigid taxonomies. Events and exhibitions run on a community-led model, allowing diverse voices to shape TERRAIN’s identity and programming.

The design also scales across channels: TERRAIN’s physical, digital, and outdoor programs operate with distinct workflows but share common goals and tone. This coherence reduces cognitive load for users and builds a strong brand narrative.

TERRAIN sets a benchmark by designing beyond transaction – toward relationship. It offers not just an experience, but a system of reciprocity, mutual care, and transformation. The entire service ecology is embedded with ecological metaphors and structural clarity, enabling others to replicate or adapt aspects of the model. It’s a testament to how design strategy can support regenerative systems, public learning, and viable, mission-aligned businesses.

TERRAIN introduces a new model for values-led, multi-service infrastructure – combining physical retail, cultural programming, co-working access, and outdoor ecological learning into one cohesive, scalable system. At its core, TERRAIN reimagines service design not as a pipeline, but as an ecosystem – each function feeding and informing the others.

The bookshop draws in curious minds. The gallery engages those minds through material and experience. The studio supports practitioners working on parallel challenges. The Bioassembly takes everything outdoors – embedding the learning in physical terrain.

Several innovations underpin the model:

• Volunteer–studio exchange: a system where bookshop time is exchanged for studio access, creating mutual benefit with no need for grants or external funding.
• Ecological taxonomies: genre systems inspired by environmental elements rather than Dewey decimal logic, promoting intuitive and poetic navigation.
• Circular material literacy: all spatial and operational touchpoints are designed to teach as well as function – from the lime-plastered walls to printed flyers explaining each decision.
• Hybrid events: Bioassembly outings incorporate education, transport, local partnerships and regeneration – structured through a replicable operational backend and run entirely by TERRAIN and collaborators.
• Decentralised operations: booking systems, CRM tools, and inventory are cloud-based and integrated, allowing one person to run all core operations part-time with ease.
• Triple-bottom-line constitution: TERRAIN legally embeds ecological and social responsibilities into its operating structure, ensuring the system cannot drift from its values.

Where many service models silo offerings, TERRAIN’s ecosystem strategy brings them into conversation. The result is a rare model: accessible, ecologically grounded, and commercially viable. It offers not only a new approach to service design, but a blueprint for regenerative micro-economies in a time of social and ecological urgency.

TERRAIN delivers sustained, real-world impact – across social connection, environmental education, and economic resilience.

Socially, the model strengthens civic cohesion by offering a rare third space where community members can gather, share, and learn. Visitors stay for hours, volunteers return regularly, and events regularly sell out. The space builds belonging, combats ecological overwhelm, and fosters personal growth. Bioassembly connects participants directly to place – planting, hiking, learning from farmers, beekeepers, and ecologists. These encounters are active and embodied, fostering deep memory and shared responsibility.

Environmentally, TERRAIN embeds sustainability logic into operations and experience. Books are packed in reclaimed materials. Flyers explain material choices. Events include low-waste catering and regenerative activities. Workshops teach reuse and care. From its algae bioplastic blinds to mycelium lighting and solar-powered servers, TERRAIN’s entire service system models what environmental consciousness looks like in action.

Commercially, TERRAIN has grown organically and sustainably without reliance on external investment. Book sales, memberships, events, consulting, and hire fees generate steady revenue, supporting operations and a growing team. Systems have been designed to support scale, while protecting values. Importantly, the service model is designed to be replicable. Others are already adapting components – borrowing ideas from Bioassembly, store operations, and the volunteer–studio exchange.

By openly sharing documentation, strategy, and behind-the-scenes practices, TERRAIN extends its reach and models a culture of generosity and shared learning. As a whole, TERRAIN elevates the status of service design in Victoria – showing that care, clarity, and systemic thinking can power businesses rooted in purpose.

It invites us to rethink not only what services we offer, but how we deliver them, who participates, and what kind of futures they make possible. In doing so, it becomes a case study for how regenerative systems design can shape a culture of climate responsibility, creativity, and community.

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.