A Monumental New Headquarters For Fashion Trailblazers Incu

Work Space

2002 feels like a long time ago for anyone. But for the fashion industry, it’s almost a different world. A retail climate without online shopping? Without Instagram? Incu was established in this year, by twin brothers Brian and Vincent Wu, who envisaged transporting the cosmopolitan shopping landscape of Hong Kong to Australia, where a carefully curated tasting plate of international designers could be housed under one roof.

18 years later and Incu continues to remain ahead of the curve, surviving a turbulent two decades for brick-and-mortar retail. The company’s slick new multi-storey home base in Rosebery, Sydney, designed by Akin Atelier cements its enduring cult status into a legacy.

1st July, 2020

The internal courtyard on the second floor is wrapped in red-pressed bricks and terracotta tiles. Photo – Terence Chin.

The meeting room opens out onto the terrace balcony, which overlooks the street. Photo – Terence Chin.

The offices on the second floor. An indoor courtyard in the foreground, floor-to-ceiling corridor and the terrace balcony at the end of the corridor funnel natural light through the space. Photo – Terence Chin.

Some seriously enviable interiors! Photo – Terence Chin.

The staff kitchen is slick and minimalist. Photo – Terence Chin.

Patterned brickwork and a rendered curved wall combine Rosebery’s industrial heritage with a modernist architectural sensibility. Photo – Terence Chin.

The site is long and narrow, meaning floor to ceiling windows are essential for natural light! Photo – Terence Chin.

The material palette consists of terracotta, brick, timber and concrete. Photo – Terence Chin.

Terracotta tiles wrap the outlet benches. Photo – Terence Chin.

The blush-toned outlet space is a retail dream! Photo – Terence Chin.

Sasha Gattermayr

Wednesday 1st July 2020

‘This has been a huge achievement for us as we’ve progressed through the years.’ – Brian + Vincent Wu

From its humble beginnings 18 years ago, Incu’s impressive growth trajectory has culminated in 160 staff sprawled across stores in three states, plus the Australian outposts for A.P.C and Rag + Bone. For a brick-and-mortar business that not only weathered the online retail boom, but thrived in it, Incu has taken the challenges of a pandemic firmly in its stride. So much so, that it was time for an update!

Deep in the Sydney suburb of Rosebery, the cult retailer enlisted longtime collaborator Akin Atelier to transform a newly-secured semi-industrial building into a retail outlet, office and warehouse. The brief was to convert the former mechanic’s workshop into a new headquarters, and the architects looked to the neighbourhood’s existing architectural personality for inspiration.

Red dry-pressed bricks wrap the facade in a nod to the building’s industrial locale, while terracotta tiles cladding the interior benches and courtyard bring texture to the interiors. A terracotta-toned render sweeps the curved second storey, which conceals meeting rooms, an open plan office and internal courtyard behind the street-facing exterior. Floor-to-ceiling windows and a second floor balcony open the office space to floods of natural light, while polished concrete floors anchor the heritage-inspired designs in a contemporary attitude.

‘This has been a huge achievement for us as we’ve progressed through the years,’ Brian and Vincent say. ‘We hope the building will be timeless.

The new Incu outlet and headquarters can be found at 110 Dunning Avenue, Rosebery. It will be open daily from 11am – 4pm. More info can be found here.