Display suites as a branding tool

Display suites have long been used by developers to showcase their project to potential buyers, allowing the public to get a feel of the development and chat to the people behind it. 

It can be an effective way to create buzz around the project, get people talking, and allow them to visualise the plans, bridging the gap between today and what will exist in the future.

There has been talk lately about whether they are still necessary in the digital age. 

However, Apartment Developments sat down with Michael Drescher, the interior design Director for leading firm DKO Interiors, about the importance of display suites as a branding tool. 

He believes they still have an important place in the success of a development. 

DKO Interiors designed an elaborate and eye-catching display suite for developers Golden Age to showcase their Box Hill development: SKY One Box Hill. 

Apartment Developments: How can display suites be used as an effective branding tool?

Michael Drescher: The quality of the display suite represents the language of the interior material palette and overall design intent in conversation with the buildings glamorous outer guise. We use the display suite as the medium to convey the architectural arrangement and the interior interpretation of the over-arching idea. Golden Age sought to deliver an extraordinary display suite that would convey their ongoing commitment to delivering impressive projects of the highest quality. In doing so, they have successfully lifted the bar for multi residential living in the Box Hill area, therein creating a new bench mark and standard of living for future residents to expect.  

AD: How important is a display suite to engage people from the exterior as well as the interior? 

MD: In creating a landmark building for Box Hill, the display suite captures the feeling of opulence and grandeur from the sweeping bronze façade and successfully carries this through to the intricate detailing and warmth of the interior design. Generous, deep set windows along the exterior façade strategically invoke interest from passers-by granting vignettes of the sleek and impressive scaled building model and the hive of activity within the display suite.

AD: What do you want people to feel when they enter into a display suite?

MD: How people would engage with the display suite was carefully thought out. The monumental scale of the display suite could be read from a number of external vantage points with the impressive/grandiose vessel perched proudly on the site. Traversing the elevated entrance plane behind the sweeping gold façade, you are immediately separated from the bustling Box Hill street. Natural timbers and immaculately landscaped gardens instantly transport you from the urban environment to more serene surroundings. Earthy tones and tactile surfaces firmly anchor the interiors to the site while the spectacular views that will grace the individual exterior living spaces are captured beautifully on the apartments display walls. At the essence of a successful display suite is the feeling of home. This feeling is unique to the individual however through the use of natural materials, plush furnishings and deliberate lighting we gently enable people to picture themselves inhabiting the space with a feeling of familiarity and excitement.

AD: What features of the Sky One building do you see as being the most architecturally unique/interesting? 

MD: Our clients desire was a sculptural approach to the architecture. We looked to provide singular architectural language to the overall building shape, one that is both sinuous and sculptural, almost jewel like.

Within this sculptural approach we looked for an outcome that is not fashionable,  but rather sophisticated, considered and elegant.

A finely detailed tinted glass and metal façade is designed to accentuate the architectural form and maximise the vast daylight and view opportunities the site has to offer. To complement the sculptural form of the tower, the podium element has been lined with fluted glass with highlighted bronze metal accents to further add visual interest and accentuate the activation toward the street.