Image Credit : Tom Ross
Project Overview
After the sale of Innocent Bystander Wines, wine maker Phil sexton wanted to transform the casual eatery that housed that brand, into an environment of sophisticated dining that better reflected his high-end, award-winning label Giant Steps.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Wendy Bergman: Lead Interior Designer
Ineke Hutter: Interior Designer
Jack Monte: Designer
Paul Grummisch: Industrial Designer
Consultants
Builder: Project Group
Lighting: AT Lighting
Bespoke Items: Please Please Please
Project Brief
We transformed a vast, casual, loud and exposed food hall, into a place for luxurious, intimate and refined dining. A space that not only houses a superior dining experience, but also acts as a cellar door with a delicious tasting room and comprehensive retail area.
We created the intimacy and elegance needed within the enormous space, in several ways. First, by breaking it up with beautiful tailored joinery, such as the curvaceous screening and sumptuous banquette seating, producing smaller pockets and zones and a softening of the existing building’s harsh lines. These screens along with bespoke feature lighting, humanised the scale of the site, by lowering the towering ceiling. Finally we established warmth and sophistication with a deep rich palette, of dark, moody timbers, soft leathers and exquisite stone.
The interior engages people in all aspects of community, wine, food and the local environment. From enjoying a fine drop with a delicious meal in the intimate dining room, to exploring different varieties of wines in the atmospheric tasting room, to roaming through the beautiful and ordered retail section, making selection of their favourite bottles to take home both easy and enjoyable. All of these different spaces have been designed for clarity, comfort and ease of interaction between patrons and experienced staff. Each destination within the space, offers a sense of seclusion and privacy combined with a peep show beyond.
It is all about the experience of wine in all its glory.
Project Innovation/Need
Some of the collaborative and innovative design solutions for this project were:
- The living waiters station - with plumbed irrigation system for a tree
- The Halo Effect - The gateway to the beautifully ordered retail space
- The Tasting Room’s custom designed, forged metal, leather bound wine wall, hand made by Paul Grummsich of Please Please Please
- All bespoke lighting custom designed and locally manufactured in Melbourne by Paul Grummisch. Including monumental, original chandeliers.
Design Challenge
The Design challenge was to completely transformed the spatial experience of the venue, with a design that was unique for the site’s specific challenges, attributes and various functions. With a particularly tight timeframe, this project is an excellent example of how ongoing collaboration with all those involved, can produce creative and technical solutions that result in an outcome that is not only beautiful and efficient but also improves the functionality of the venue.
Sustainability
In order to reduce the footprint of this project we carefully evaluated what we could retain from the spaces previous incarnation and adapt for our new design.
We also had all bespoke elements such as the feature lighting, carriageway and wine walls designed and manufactured in town by local artisans.
Interior Design - Hospitality - Luxury
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes, aesthetic presentation and functionality. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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