Regenerative
Development
Process
Head Office — West End, Brisbane
A Living Systems Approach to Place, People & Purpose
Veridian acknowledges the Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera Peoples as the Traditional Custodians of this Country. Sovereignty was never ceded. Country-led engagement is structural to this process from Day 1.
Why Regenerative?
Developing the Synapse head office in West End is not primarily a construction or fit-out project — it is an act of place-making. Done well, it will amplify Synapse’s purpose, deepen belonging for staff and clients, and contribute meaningfully to the vitality of West End as a living community.
Regenerative development begins from a different starting premise than conventional, green, or even sustainable design. It asks: how can this project enable the whole living system — the place, the people, the ecology, the community — to evolve toward greater health, capacity and aliveness?
“It is vital that Synapse become more authentically itself, attracting more of the right people to ensure that tremendous energy continues to be unleashed on behalf of Australians living with brain injury.”
The Synapse Way Culture Report| Dimension | Conventional / Sustainable Approach | Regenerative Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Impact Orientation | Reduce negative impacts on environment | Generate positive value for living systems |
| Design Benchmark | Meet benchmarks (Green Star, LEED) | Develop place-specific potential |
| Stakeholders | Stakeholder management | Stakeholder co-creation and guild-building |
| Design Process | Expert-driven design | Community-embedded, story-sourced design |
| Building Role | Building as product | Building as living system participant |
| Success Measure | Efficiency metrics | Vitality, viability, evolutionary capacity |
| Project Lifecycle | Completed at handover | Co-evolving indefinitely after occupancy |
The Synapse Way is already a regenerative culture: belonging-centred, place-sensitive, purpose-driven, highly interdependent and open to change. The task of this development process is to make the physical environment an expression and amplifier of that culture — and to do so in a way that honours the particular character of West End, Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera Country.
The Reed Trajectory maps the terrain: Conventional → Green → Sustainable (neutral impact) → Restorative → Reconciliatory → Regenerative. Regenerative development sits at the apex: humans as nature, not apart from it; co-evolution as the mode of engagement. Synapse’s culture of lived experience, humble learning, and relationship-first already reflects this worldview. The building must embody it materially.
Before any assessment, design or construction begins, the right human architecture must be established.
Synapse’s own CFT (Core-Field-Task) framework, adapted from Krone’s Open Systems Design work, provides the ideal structure. This is not a standard project governance model — it is a system for evolutionary change.
“The Synapse Way is about belonging — head, heart and spirit — tied together by the powerful purpose of clients. It takes careful stewarding to ensure it remains healthy.”
The Synapse WayThe Core Team is the holographic reflection of the whole. It holds the will, the values, and the developmental trajectory of the entire project. Membership must include:
Adam Schickerling
CEO, Synapse Australia
Embodies the Synapse Way at its deepest level. Holds the developmental trajectory of the entire project.
National Director Strategy & Engagement
Systemic thinking, strategic intelligence, and the organisational field of possibility.
Senior Lived Experience Member
Ensures the client voice is never absent from the design process. The most important design criterion.
Indigenous Elder
Turrbal and/or Yuggera/Jagera Elder. Custodial knowledge of Country, cultural protocols, and deep place-based wisdom. Non-negotiable from Week 1.
West End Community Voice
Someone rooted in place, not just in Synapse. The voice of the neighbourhood in the room.
Regenerative Development Practitioner
Methodology stewardship. Ensures the process stays true to regenerative intent at every decision point.
The Core Team’s charter is the whole system — not Synapse the institution, not any individual leader. The Core Team asks: what does this place, this community, and the people we serve need to become? It holds the space between what is and what might be.
Core Team Charter Principle| Field Team | Focus Area | Key Capabilities to Build |
|---|---|---|
| Place & Story | Story of Place, West End ecology, Indigenous Country | Pattern literacy, narrative, stakeholder engagement |
| Design & Systems | Integrated building design, living systems | Integrative process, bio-design, energy/water/materials |
| Community & Culture | Synapse Way in space, neighbourhood partnerships | Culture translation, belonging-centred design, guild-building |
| Lived Experience | Co-design with brain injury community | Participatory design, accessibility, neurodivergent inclusion |
| Operations & Evolution | Occupancy, feedback loops, ongoing co-evolution | Living building management, adaptive stewardship |
Transformative Purpose
Articulate the transformative purpose: what shift in the world does this project intend?
Name the Beneficiary
Name the beneficiary: who and what serves as the ultimate recipient of value created by this project?
Reciprocal Value Map
Map reciprocal value: what does Synapse give to West End, and what does West End give to Synapse?
Realisation Mindset
Identify the Realisation mindset: orient toward potential and what might be, not problems to solve.
Energy Fields
Establish energy fields: consciously re-create the shared purpose at every Core Team meeting.
The single most common failure in development is beginning with solutions before deeply understanding the place. Phase 1 is an extended, unhurried process of listening, imaging, and discernment. Its outputs are not reports — they are a living story and a shared knowing that will guide every subsequent decision.
Before anything else, the project team must agree on the systems within which this site is embedded. This expands the frame from the site itself to the living systems that give it meaning and context.
| Scale | What It Is | For This Project |
|---|---|---|
| Project Whole | The immediate site and its direct functions | The Synapse head office building, its immediate curtilage, entry sequence, and direct neighbours |
| Proximate Whole | The system the project is embedded in and must serve | The West End / South Brisbane peninsula: Boundary Street corridor, Davies Park, the river foreshore |
| Greater Whole | The larger living system the proximate whole serves | The Brisbane River catchment, the city’s neurodivergent community network, the national brain injury support ecosystem |
A systematic, multi-lens investigation of the place across nine living systems — moving from the material to the cosmic.
| Cluster | System | West End Investigation Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Planetary | Geological | The Neranleigh-Fernvale beds; the peninsula’s formation by the Brisbane River meander; bedrock, soils, topography and their influence on drainage, stability and microclimate |
| Planetary | Hydrological | The Brisbane River as defining force; tidal reach and flood behaviour; stormwater flows; underground water table; historical creek lines now buried under urbanisation |
| Planetary | Biological | Remnant Melaleuca/Eucalyptus communities; river fig canopy; urban heat island patterns; wildlife corridors; current urban greening efforts |
| Societal | Settlement | Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera long habitation; European settlement; Greek and Vietnamese immigrant waves; counter-cultural emergence; gentrification pressures and community resistance |
| Societal | Economic | Historical manufacturing/maritime economy; transition to creative industries; NDIS economy; Boundary Street as commercial spine; Davies Park market as community economy |
| Societal | Socio-Cultural | Profound cultural diversity; strong place-attachment and activism; LGBTQIA+ community history; Indigenous cultural continuity; deep community trust networks |
| Cosmological | Psychological | What West End evokes: freedom, belonging, creative risk, resistance, welcome — “you can be yourself here” |
| Cosmological | Mythological | Stories that define the place: resistance to riverside development; community garden movements; the river as story-maker |
| Cosmological | Spiritual | The sacred relationship of Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera peoples to the river and peninsula; the sense of the place as ‘held’ by something larger |
Moving from data to essence: what are the deep, generative patterns that give West End its distinctive character and capacity?
Weaving the assessment findings and patterns into a living narrative that reveals West End’s essence, trajectory, and potential — and Synapse’s role within it.
To be the place where Brisbane’s diverse peoples meet, make meaning together, and discover what is possible when difference is honoured rather than erased.
The ongoing creative collision of cultures, knowledges, and ways of being — held together by the river’s constancy, the canopy’s embrace, and a fierce community love for this place.
A community resilient enough to welcome the stranger, courageous enough to resist what would diminish it, and rooted enough to transmit its character across generations.
Translating the Story of Place and its patterns into specific design principles that will guide every decision in the project.
| Place Pattern | Design Guideline | Spatial / Operational Implications |
|---|---|---|
| The Crossroads | The building must function as a threshold: a place where Synapse’s world and West End’s world genuinely meet and mix | Active street frontage; publicly accessible elements; no hard boundary between Synapse and neighbourhood |
| The River Holds | The building must orient toward and acknowledge the river as elder; water must be visible, audible, and ecological | Rainwater harvesting as visible feature; planted water corridors; flood resilience; views oriented to the river |
| The Resistant Edge | The building must resist homogenisation; it must look, feel, and operate like West End | Local materials; local artists; community-commissioned art; design referencing the neighbourhood’s layered character |
| The Woven Canopy | The building must contribute to West End’s biological canopy, not interrupt it | Green roofs; street-level planting; Moreton Bay fig as anchor species; no car-dominated frontage |
| The Kitchen Table | The building must centre hospitality and shared nourishing as a daily practice | A community kitchen; garden producing food; shared meal spaces for staff, clients, visitors, and neighbours |
| Turrbal / Yuggera Country | The building must acknowledge the living cultural presence of the First Peoples of this Country | Permanent cultural installation developed with Elders; language of Country in naming and wayfinding |
Discovering what West End is called to contribute to Brisbane and beyond — and how Synapse’s head office can serve as the instrument of that calling.
West End’s vocation may be: to demonstrate that a city can hold radical human diversity with grace — that a neighbourhood can be economically vital, ecologically alive, and culturally sovereign all at once. To be Brisbane’s laboratory for the possible.
Provisional Vocation of West End| Force | What It Is | For This Project |
|---|---|---|
| Activating | The potential of the place seeking expression | West End’s vocation to demonstrate inclusive, diverse, vital urban community life |
| Restraining | The unique character of the project that gives direction and definition | Synapse’s expertise in radical belonging, lived experience, neurocognitive complexity, and the Synapse Way |
| Reconciling | The role/concept that emerges when the first two meet creatively | A head office that becomes West End’s living evidence that the most complex, marginalised people are also the most creative and community-building |
Role: The bridge where West End’s spirit of radical welcome meets Synapse’s art of radical belonging. Concept: A head office that functions as West End’s ‘brain trust’ — a living demonstration that neurocognitive difference is a community asset, not a problem to be managed.
Candidate Role & ConceptDeveloping a rigorous picture of what this project and place look like when they are most fully alive — working backwards from that end-state to understand what needs to be created now.
| Value Stream | What It Provides | For Synapse West End |
|---|---|---|
| Fooding | Sustaining life at all levels | A productive garden; a kitchen culture that nourishes belonging; the building ‘feeding’ the neighbourhood with beauty and purpose |
| Sheltering | Providing conditions for growth and transformation to occur safely | A building designed for people navigating brain injury; spaces that shelter neurodivergent ways of being |
| Transacting | Enabling healthy exchange with the wider environment | Partnerships with West End community organisations; visible contribution to the neighbourhood economy |
| Adorning | Making visible what the community holds sacred | Indigenous art and cultural installations; client artwork celebrated in the public realm |
| Recreating | Restoring energy and capacity for participation | Restorative spaces for staff and clients; access to garden, river, and green spaces |
| Communing | Enabling connection to what transcends the individual | Spaces for reflection, ceremony, and connection to Country; the Story of Place visible throughout |
Identifying and developing the web of stakeholder relationships that will enable the project to generate increasing value over time.
| Guild Member | What They Bring | What Synapse Brings Them |
|---|---|---|
| Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera Elders | Custodial knowledge of Country, cultural protocols, deep place-based wisdom | A platform, resources, visibility, and genuine partnership that supports cultural continuity and sovereignty |
| West End Community Association | Community trust, local knowledge, planning and advocacy expertise | A committed institutional partner with national reach; shared advocacy on inclusive community design |
| NDIS participants and families | Lived experience, direct knowledge of service gaps, authentic voice | Access to services, connection to community, a place where their experience is valued |
| Davies Park Saturday Market | Thriving community economy, social trust networks, food culture | Potential for client-producer involvement; Synapse network as participants and customers |
| Local arts and cultural organisations | Creative capacity, community building through art, public realm activation | Exhibition space, commissions, a client base with remarkable creative capacity |
| Brisbane City Council | Planning support, public realm investment, green infrastructure programs | Evidence base for inclusive and regenerative urban design |
| Griffith University / QUT | Research capacity, student placements, knowledge exchange | Real-world complexity for education; access to lived experience knowledge |
| Local food businesses and cafes | Hospitality culture, community gathering space, neighbourhood economy | Stable client traffic; potential sourcing from Synapse garden |
Social Capital
Strong within Synapse; moderate connection to West End community networks. Priority: deepen authentic reciprocal relationships with First Nations community and local organisations.
Natural Capital
Site-level currently low. Priority: regenerate site ecology, canopy, water systems, and biodiversity as primary design goal.
Produced Capital
The building itself. Priority: design for longevity, adaptability, ecological function, and cultural resonance.
Human Capital
Very high within Synapse (lived experience expertise, relational intelligence). Priority: amplify through the building design — create spaces that enable the Synapse Way to be transmitted and practised.
Financial Capital
To be mobilised in service of all other capitals. Identify co-investment opportunities through community partnerships and government programs.
Integrating place-sourced guidelines, end-state visions, and guild relationships into the specific design of the head office.
| Design Layer | Principle | Specific Design Implications |
|---|---|---|
| Street Interface | The building must be of West End, not just in it | Active street frontage with community garden; no car-park as primary face; Indigenous cultural artwork visible from street |
| Entry / Threshold | Arrival should be a transition, not a transaction | A decompression sequence; sensory garden at entry; the Story of Place told in materials, art and planting before visitors reach reception |
| Staff & Client Zones | Belonging-centred design, not open-plan efficiency design | Multiple types of space; quiet focus rooms, collaboration zones, restorative garden spaces, informal yarning spots; clear wayfinding that does not assume cognitive fluency |
| The Elder Space | A non-negotiable dedicated space designed with, not for, Indigenous communities | Co-designed with Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera Elders; materials drawn from Country; a living cultural space, not a ‘cultural display’ |
| The Community Kitchen | Food as the universal language of belonging | Full kitchen accessible to staff, clients, and community partners; designed to support community meals and neighbourhood hosting |
| The Garden | Nature as co-designer and co-worker | Productive and ecological; canopy trees as primary design element; rainwater harvesting; client garden stewardship program |
| Living Systems Infrastructure | The building as a participant in ecological health | Rooftop solar; rainwater harvest and reuse; composting linked to garden; cross-ventilation and passive cooling; thermal mass using local materials |
| Acoustics & Sensory Design | The building must be neurologically welcoming | Acoustic zones carefully designed; no fluorescent lighting; natural materials and textures; sensory variation for self-regulation |
The five-workshop structured methodology for ensuring that everybody engages with every issue early — generating synergistic solutions that conventional sequential design cannot achieve.
“Big Savings cost less than Small Savings.” — Resolving the whole-system integration challenge early generates solutions that are simultaneously more ambitious and less expensive than sequential single-discipline optimisation.
IP Methodology| Workshop | Focus | Participants & Outputs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Aim & Place-Sourcing | Align the entire team around purpose, place, and potential. Present Story of Place, Design Guidelines, and end-state visions. | Core Team, all Field Teams, architect, engineers, First Nations representatives. Outputs: shared purpose statement; agreed Design Guidelines; CoVO document. |
| 2 · Site & Systems | Investigate the site as a living system. Map energy flows, water cycles, ecological connections, social flows. Identify leverage points. | Architect, landscape architect, structural and services engineers, ecologist. Outputs: integrated site analysis; systems diagram; leverage-point list. |
| 3 · Concept Development | Develop and evaluate design concepts against Place-Sourced Guidelines and end-state visions. | All above plus cost planner, accessibility consultant, neurodivergent design specialist. Outputs: preferred design concept; initial cost plan. |
| 4 · Design Development & Cost Bundling | Develop preferred concept to Design Development stage. Bundle costs across systems to identify integration savings. | All above plus project manager and council planning officer. Outputs: endorsed DD drawings; integrated cost plan; planning strategy. |
| 5 · Pre-Construction Alignment | Align the construction team with the regenerative intent. Establish OPR and BOD documents. | All above plus builder and key subcontractors, building manager, operations staff. Outputs: OPR document; BOD document; commissioning plan. |
Identifying the high-leverage, catalytic actions that will most effectively activate the project’s role in West End’s living system. Urban acupuncture involves finding the ‘dark spots’ in a system — places where a well-targeted intervention can light up the whole. Every nodal intervention must pass the QISS test: Quick, Inexpensive, Simple, Systemic.
| Intervention | Dark Spot It Addresses | Systemic Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Community street garden on the Synapse frontage, installed before construction completes | The disconnection between Synapse and the West End streetscape | Establishes Synapse’s presence as generous and place-giving; creates a gathering point; demonstrates built-form intent before it exists |
| A ‘West End Brain Trust’ regular yarning circle — monthly community gathering open to all | The isolation of the brain injury community from West End’s broader community life | Builds guild relationships before the building opens; establishes Synapse’s role as convener of diverse knowledge |
| Commission a First Nations artist to develop the building’s threshold artwork immediately | The common failure mode of Indigenous art as afterthought rather than design foundation | Embeds cultural knowledge into the design DNA; creates genuine partnership; sets the tone for what kind of building this will be |
| Establish a client kitchen garden at Davies Park market stall in year one | The invisibility of people with brain injury in West End’s community economy | Creates a visible demonstration of the project’s vocation; generates stories; builds pride in the Synapse community |
| Develop a ‘Synapse Lens’ display — a living exhibition of the Story of Place and community’s stories | The gap between what Synapse knows about living with brain injury and what the broader community understands | Educates visitors; celebrates clients; demonstrates the building’s function as a cultural institution |
The operational framework for translating regenerative intent into building reality — ensuring that purpose drives process at every stage of construction.
| Task Cycle Stage | Planning (Forward) | Execution (Reverse) |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | A head office that amplifies the Synapse Way, serves the West End community, and demonstrates what is possible for people living with brain injury | Keep returning to Purpose at every decision point — particularly when budget pressure tempts the project to compromise its intent |
| Products | The building; the community garden; the Indigenous Elder space; the guild of relationships; the Story of Place as a living exhibition | Products are only complete when they demonstrably serve the Purpose — not just when physically finished |
| Process | IP workshops; community co-design; First Nations cultural protocols; IP-compliant procurement; regenerative construction practices | Execute processes in order that builds toward Purpose: relationships before structures; cultural work before construction |
| Functioning Capability | A project team, guild of partners, and organisational culture capable of delivering this project and continuing to evolve the building after handover | Capability-building is a primary deliverable — people involved should be more capable regenerative practitioners at the end |
Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) Highlights
Building will maintain minimum EUI 40% below the industry baseline for equivalent facilities
Harvest and reuse no less than 50% of potable water demand from rainwater and greywater recycling
Outdoor spaces will support a minimum 30% greater urban biodiversity than the pre-existing site
Indigenous Elder Space — designed with and approved by Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera Elders — is a condition of project approval
Achieve a measured neurodivergent-affirming design outcome as assessed against the accessibility brief
The building is never finished — it is a living participant in an ongoing regenerative process. The post-occupancy phase is when the most important learning occurs.
The West End head office should itself become a story that Synapse tells — not as a marketing asset, but as a living demonstration of everything the Synapse Way stands for. Every new staff member should be brought to the building as part of their induction. Every client should know that this place was designed for and with people like them.
The Building as StoryPost-Occupancy Evaluation
Structured POE with staff, clients, and regular visitors. Does the building support the Synapse Way? What is working, what is not?
Ecological Audit
Garden performance, species attracted, water system performance vs OPR targets. Living systems check-in.
Full CSF Review
Evaluate the building’s contribution against each of the Six CSFs and their end-state visions. Not a maintenance check; a developmental audit.
Living Story of Place
Maintain the Story of Place as a living document — update annually with new stories and new chapters in Synapse’s community contribution.
Living Systems Audit
Formal assessment of ecological, social, and cultural performance every three years. The building as living participant, reviewed accordingly.
The Synapse Way is not a soft add-on. It is the most important design criterion of all.
The building’s regenerative capacity depends entirely on whether it enables the Synapse Way to be practised, transmitted, and deepened.
“Synapse will recruit the raw and rough diamonds, not those people who are neat and qualified — the people who don’t ‘have their shit together’ but in the right ways.”
The Synapse Way. The building must be designed for these people.Culture Embedded in Space
| Clients first, their way | Client-facing spaces are the most beautifully and thoughtfully designed in the building. Client artwork is the primary art program. No space that communicates clients are a service category rather than the reason for everything. |
| Belonging and relationships | Informal gathering is as generously resourced as formal meeting. The kitchen and garden are as important as the boardroom. There are spaces where people can be with one another without agenda. |
| Authentic and open | No space that demands professional performance. Spaces to cry, to process, to be not OK. The design does not pretend that the work is tidy. |
| All of life | The building accommodates the whole person: children’s corner, somewhere to lie down, a place to pray or be quiet, a sensory garden for overwhelm, a place to celebrate. |
| Trust and 100% committed | The building declares its intent through the quality of its materials, its art, its accessibility, its relationship to the street: “we mean it.” |
- — First Nations consultation begins at Step 2 — before any design work commences
- — A Turrbal and/or Yuggera/Jagera Elder sits on the Core Team for the life of the project
- — The Indigenous Elder Space is a condition of project approval, not a stretch goal
- — A formal Welcome to Country protocol is embedded in the building’s opening ceremony and all subsequent major gatherings
- — An ongoing maintenance budget is committed for the cultural space, First Nations art program, and Elder engagement activities
Shadow Prevention in the Process
- — Radical transparency: all major decisions and their rationale are communicated to all Field Teams within one week
- — No decisions outside the room: if a significant design or budget decision is made without the Core Team, it is reopened
- — Explicit permission to dissent: every workshop has a standing invitation to name what is being left unsaid
- — Budget transparency: the full budget and its evolution is visible to all Field Teams at all times
- — No pretend professionalism: if the project is in trouble, this is named in the Core Team immediately
The A5 Communication Process applies to every communication act in this development.
Communication is not about informing; it is about inviting people into a changed relationship with possibility. The Synapse Way’s A5 process — Atmosphere, Awareness, Aims, Action, Audit — structures all community and team engagement.
Every community engagement event begins with acknowledgement of Country, a welcome, and a clear statement of what this gathering is for. Food is always present. The atmosphere is created before the content begins.
| A5 Stage | What It Means | Application to This Project |
|---|---|---|
| Atmosphere | Create the conditions in which genuine dialogue is possible. Safety, warmth, purpose. | Every community engagement event begins with acknowledgement of Country, a welcome, and a clear statement of what this gathering is for. Food is always present. |
| Awareness | Expand what people see. Share the Story of Place. Make visible what has been invisible. | The story of West End and Synapse’s place in it is told in every workshop — not a presentation, a yarning. |
| Aims | Name clearly and honestly what the project is trying to achieve and why it matters. | The CoVO and end-state visions are communicated in plain, vivid language. What will be different in West End in 2030 because this building exists? |
| Action | Invite specific, meaningful participation. Not token consultation but genuine co-creation. | Every community engagement moment has a specific, actionable invitation: Come to the yarning circle. Nominate your favourite West End story. Review the design guidelines. |
| Audit | Close the loop. Report back what was heard, what changed, and what didn’t change and why. | Within two weeks of every community event, a brief report is published on what was heard and what it changed. |
The true measures of success are found in the Three Aspects of Regenerative Capability.
Some of the most important outcomes of this project will resist quantification: the moment a client feels genuinely seen and welcomed by the building; the Elder’s satisfaction with the cultural space; the West End resident who starts thinking differently about brain injury because of a conversation they had in Synapse’s street garden.
These are the outcomes the project exists to generate. They will not appear in any sustainability rating. They are, nonetheless, the point.
Vitality
Aliveness & Internal Energy. Staff engagement and belonging scores; client wellbeing outcomes; volume and quality of community stories generated; garden productivity; biodiversity on site; spontaneous community use.
Viability
Endurance Through Exchange. Guild relationship health; financial sustainability of community programs; building performance vs OPR targets; community endorsement of Synapse’s role in West End.
Evolutionary Capacity
Development Over Time. Year-on-year improvement in CSF achievement; new vocational expressions not anticipated in the original concept; contribution to sector and policy development; emergence of new leaders.
A Note on What Cannot Be Measured. Some of the most important outcomes of this project will resist quantification: the moment a client feels genuinely seen and welcomed by the building; the Elder’s satisfaction with the cultural space; the West End resident who starts thinking differently about brain injury because of a conversation they had in Synapse’s street garden. These are the outcomes the project exists to generate. They will not appear in any sustainability rating. They are, nonetheless, the point.
The full process from first listening to living building.
| Phase 1 — Place-Sourced Understanding (~15 weeks) | ||
| Step 1: Establish Nested Wholes | 2 weeks | Nested wholes diagram; team alignment on ‘how big is here?’ |
| Step 2: Integral Assessment | 6–8 weeks | Nine systems assessment; field immersion notes; community yarning findings |
| Step 3: Core Patterns | 3 weeks | Pattern Map; validated pattern descriptions in community language |
| Step 4: Story of Place | 4 weeks | Draft Story of Place narrative; Essence Triad; validated with community |
| Step 5: Design Guidelines | 2 weeks | Place-Sourced Design Guidelines; Design Lens Card |
| Phase 2 — Regenerative Concept & Design (~15–20 weeks, overlapping from Week 6) | ||
| Step 6: Vocation & Law of Three | 3 weeks | Vocation statement; Role and Concept for the project |
| Step 7: End-State & CSFs | 2 weeks | End-state visions for all Six CSFs; interim state map |
| Step 8: Guild Mapping | Ongoing from Week 2 | Guild Charter; Five Capitals assessment; active partnerships initiated |
| Step 9: Building Design | 8–12 weeks | Three design concepts; preferred concept endorsed; schematic design |
| Step 10: IP Workshop Series | Across design phase | Five IP workshops; OPR and BOD documents; CoVO; DD drawings |
| Phase 3 — Co-Evolving Implementation (construction: 12–18 months; occupancy: permanent) | ||
| Step 11: Nodal Interventions | From Week 6 onward | Three to five priority interventions; Task Team charters; experiments underway |
| Step 12: Task Cycle / Construction | 12–18 months | Builder brief; site culture protocol; construction management; commissioning |
| Step 13: Occupancy & Co-Evolution | Permanent / ongoing | POE reports; annual CSF reviews; living Story of Place; guild development |
| ⚑ Critical Path: First Nations engagement must begin in Week 1, not after the design is underway. The Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera relationship to this site predates and supersedes every other consideration. An Elder must be on the Core Team before the first Integral Assessment workshop is held. This is not a statutory requirement — it is a matter of right relationship. | ||
Building as Becoming
The Synapse head office in West End is an opportunity of rare significance. Not because head offices are important, but because this one — done in the Synapse Way, on Turrbal and Yuggera/Jagera Country, in one of Brisbane’s most richly characterful neighbourhoods — can be something beyond a building.
It can be a demonstration that the people most excluded by our systems — those living with brain injury and complex disability, those navigating neurocognitive difference in a world not designed for them — carry exactly the wisdom, resilience, and relational intelligence that our cities and communities most need.
That will not happen because of a good design brief, or a Green Star rating, or a well-managed construction programme. It will happen because the right people come together around a shared purpose that is larger than any of them, and give it everything they have.
“Synapse has a unique culture which is its engine. It can and must grow, ensuring the best possible outcomes for clients and a life-changing workplace for employees. The West End head office is the next chapter in that story.”
The Synapse WayLet the building become what this place and these people need it to be.
Synapse Australia Limited
veridian.earth
Reed & Mang · Krone