Commercial Design

Architecture and interiors for the commercial world, designed with the care, precision, and emotional intelligence we bring to our residential practice. Hospitality venues, workplaces, retail environments, and mixed-use spaces that don't just function. They feel like somewhere you want to be.

Design that starts with strategy — not a mood board

Every commercial design project at Butterwood is grounded in our Place Strategy approach. Before we draw a single line, we understand your brand, your people, and the experience you're trying to create. This means the design doesn't just look beautiful in the renders, it works beautifully on a rainy Tuesday afternoon when the space is half-full and the real test begins.

Full service, concept to construction

Concept Design — Translating the strategic brief into spatial ideas. Layout, flow, materiality, atmosphere.

Design Development — Refining the concept into resolved design. We present, iterate, and evolve until it's right.

Documentation — The technical drawings, specifications, and schedules that allow a builder to price and construct accurately.

Construction Oversight — We stay involved during the build to protect the design intent and solve the inevitable site challenges.

What makes our design work different

We're not a fitout firm that adds a brand layer on top. And we're not a brand agency that hands off to a builder. Design and strategy work simultaneously at Butterwood, because the spatial decisions are brand decisions, and vice versa.

Emma's architectural practice brings fifteen years of designing homes people love to live in. That instinct for human comfort, materiality, and proportion doesn't disappear when the project is commercial, it becomes the competitive advantage. Warwick's strategic career across Set Creative, Leo Burnett, and Jack Morton means every design decision is interrogated for meaning, not just aesthetics.

Sectors we design for

Hospitality — Cafes, restaurants, bars, hotels, and wellness spaces where atmosphere is the product.

Workplace — Offices, coworking spaces, and studios designed for how people actually work now — not how they worked in 2019.

Retail & Brand Spaces — Flagship stores, showrooms, pop-ups, and brand destinations that earn the visit.

Community & Culture — Libraries, galleries, sporting facilities, and public spaces that belong to everyone who uses them.

Built for the real world

We design around real budgets, real timelines, real council requirements, and the dozen unglamorous constraints that separate a beautiful concept from a built space. Because we've delivered projects from both the strategy side and the architecture side, nothing falls through the gap between intention and execution.

A space that's only beautiful is only half-finished. A space that makes people feel something — that's the whole job.

Our Practice

Our Design Practice

Place Strategy

Brand audits, spatial narratives, and experience mapping. We define what your space should mean before anyone picks up a pencil. The strategic foundation for every design decision that follows.

Commercial Design

Architecture and interior design for hospitality, workplace, retail, and mixed-use spaces. Concept through to construction documentation and site oversight. Grounded in strategy, resolved through craft.

Brand Environments

Translating brand identity into spatial design language, materials, wayfinding, sensory design, and customer journey. Bridging the gap between what your brand says and what your space feels like.

Design Direction

Strategic leadership for larger projects. Creative direction, design review, and oversight to ensure commercial spaces deliver on their brand promise, even when another firm handles documentation.

Let's talk about your space.

Whether you're in the early stages of a project, rethinking an existing space, or just curious about what's possible, we'd love to hear what you're working on.

Start a conversation