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Arup Brisbane

Arup Brisbane

Reflective of Country

How can a commercial building facade tell an authentic First Nations narrative while also strengthening a global brand?

Diadem collaborated with Arup, First Nations design studio Blaklash, and First Nations artist Keisha Leon to transform a Brisbane workplace facade into a large-scale cultural artwork that also supports the Arup brandmark.

Client

Acuity PM

First Nations Artist

Keisha Leon

First Nations Consultants

BLAKLASH

Traditional custodians

Turrbal and Jagera/Yuggera people

Photography

Steve Brown

Integrating art and brand

The Arup Brisbane workplace sits at the centre of the city’s new “Albert St Green Spine” at the corner of Charlotte and Albert Streets. The brief was to incorporate contemporary First Nations artwork and the Arup logo onto the external building facade, with the artwork and brand treated as a single, integrated composition rather than a logo applied over decoration.

Acuity PM engaged Diadem to deliver the full project lifecycle, extending from initial planning and concept development through to construction documentation, council coordination, procurement and execution.

Arup Brisbane Workplace Fascade First Nations Signage Design

Reflective of Country

At the heart of the design is Keisha Leon’s artwork Reflective of Country, a response grounded in listening to and learning from Country. The work draws on the flow of water to mark the site’s location on a creek and uses that flow as a layer encapsulating a sense of story and place throughout the design.

The facade was conceived as a unified artwork wrapping the podium corner across two expansive sections. Layered fabrication, custom perforation, and integrated illumination allowed the artwork and the Arup brandmark to read as a single composition, with the logo illuminated in red at night.

Arup Brisbane Workplace Fascade First Nations Signage Design

A landmark collaboration

Diadem worked closely with Keisha throughout concept development to protect the integrity of her artwork as it was translated into a buildable large-scale outcome.

The result is a distinctive landmark at the heart of the city and an expression of identity, collaboration, and connection to Country, deep within an urban context. This project demonstrates how contemporary workplace design can authentically embed cultural narrative while elevating brand presence in a way that is both respectful and future-focused.

Arup Brisbane Workplace Fascade First Nations Signage Design

Artist statement

Reflective of Country is an act of listening, surrendering the impulse to impose and instead choose to receive, to let Country guide the hand, inform the form, and shape the intention. The work is not a representation of a landscape, it is a conversation with it. At the heart of this piece is the understanding that we do not exist apart from the places that made us.

Reflective of Country holds both the natural and the reformed in the same breath, the river and the road built beside it, the canopy and the roofline rising through it, the old songlines and the new voices singing along them. This tension is not a wound. It is the honest story of a living cultural navigating a changed world without losing its centre. The land absorbs, adapts, and endures. So do we.

The work is an offering to Country, to community, and to everyone who has ever stood between the world they were given and the world they are trying to build, and found beauty in that in-between place.

  • Keisha Leon 2024
Arup Brisbane Workplace Fascade First Nations Signage Design

The design of our new office was a complex undertaking, and Diadem were a pleasure to work with in delivering the lighting design for our external office signage.  They took a proactive approach to the artist’s brief, carefully considering the intent and recommending lighting solutions that enhanced the final outcome.  Communication was excellent throughout the project. They kept us informed at every stage and responded promptly and professionally to any issues that arose.

Diadem were considerate of both Arup and our First Nations partners, demonstrating flexibility as the project evolved and requirements changed.

They were always accommodating, including facilitating short-notice inspections, and produced clear, easy-to-follow design documentation.

We would happily work with Diadem again and have no hesitation in recommending them to others.

  • Gail Harding, Facilities Project Coordinator | Queensland Office Services
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