Image Credit : Casey Horsfield
Project Overview
Ahhhhhh... the world of coffee! The obsession in Australia keeps growing and growing... and, our affection with it is fast becoming embedded with the lifestyle we all love! Everyday!
This space is about introducing a truly immersive specialty coffee retail experience to the community of Queensland... drink it, learn about it, buy it and even be trained in how to make the perfect cup. The four heritage restored walls act as the stage, and respectfully, the elegantly curated finishes and joinery pieces the props. Together with coffee experts and customers; the convergence elegantly sings and immersion in coffee heaven is created. Its a buzz of activity - all celebrating the true artistry of specialty coffee. Premium grunge, proudly delivered by Grinders - for everyone to enjoy.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Jacob Burke - Creative Director
Tom Debenham - Lead, Interior Design
George Thompson - Lead, Industrial Design
Geoff Ashmore - Interior Architecture
Tom Madden - Construction Management
Project Brief
This is one unique take on coffee retail!
The mandate? To combine a cafe-like retail hub and state of the art training centre in one centralised location. Above all - an immersive specialty coffee love-fest like no other. All brought to you by one of Australia's most revered coffee brands.
Located as part of the iconic 11 Logan Road redevelopment by Kirk Architects, the space presented two retail tenancies with an adjoining archway and an unrivalled, untouched, raw heritage masterpiece.
Grinders wanted this space to respect the base build magnificence, whilst creating a beautifully elegant space that personified the values of the Grinders brand.
The space also needed to introduce and launch a new retail strategy 'Grinders for Home'
Project Innovation/Need
Coffee, by its very nature, is something that you experience. In a multi-sensory capacity... and this retail space enabled us to take this to a whole new level for Grinders.
Being 'Advocates of New', best. design to life spent time understanding exactly what we wanted the customer to experience - and then used design to deliver this.
Ideation through total design management was fundamental to this project - it enabled our multi-disciplinary team to work in co-lab and cohesion to work through creating a highly functional design - both for intended customer experience, and operational requirements.
The result? An entire new retail philosophy brought to life - catering for those who simply want a take-away coffee, to sit at the new brew bar and have the opportunity to try new blends and brews together with a Grinders expert, or experience new state-of-the-art coffee brewing technology. Right through to being able to experience 'Grinders at Home' with new retail packs and the launch of the new Foundation blend. All culminating in being able to book a training session with the best-of-the best.
Most notably; best. design to life industrial and interior designers worked in heavy collaboration with the training team of experts at Grinders to overhaul the design of the 'training station' - meaning that the new joinery functionality could cater for training the same amount of people - with a dramatic decrease in space required.
Design Challenge
This project has really redefined the Grinders brand in the Queensland marketplace. And reviews from staff, customers and the media has certainly inscribed this in the history books.
This level of publicity and success does not come without its challenges.
The challenge in delivering the benchmark level of designed retail experience to a market for a product category is very real. Carefully nuanced management of Grinders' business drivers and strategic brand objectives with what the market wants required a level of bravery, courage and persistence. An ability to tweak at every stage. Agility and flexibility in our design thinking process across all project stakeholders ensured that we could deliver this for Grinders at every stage of both the design, and build.
The result ensures that spatial equity and transparency in retail experience and engagement between the Grinders coffee experts and customers is perfectly balanced in built reality.
The energy and flow of the space effected by design is testament to the ability to work in collaboration with a client to ensure our value is embedded in having the retail customer and intended experience at the heart of every conversation and design decision.
Above all - the retail hub (and workplace) was designed, built and launched in under 6 months.
Sustainability
As part of Grinders' commitment to reducing capital expenditure and delivering 'more for less' across the entire business - there was a firm mandate for the project team to do just that. And it was achieved. Economic Sustainability was delivered via adoption of two critical best. design to life's service offering differentiators;
1. Total Design and Construct delivery model
2. Ethical Sourcing supply chain
In comparison to the previous Victorian flagship delivered in 2016; an economic dividend of 51% per cubic metre of joinery was delivered to the project with a significantly up-spec'd finishes palette.
Interior Design - Retail
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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