Image Credit : Tom Ferguson - tom@tomferguson.com.au
Project Overview
Transforming a cavernous concrete shell, undulating chalky cream curves and arches within Hurricane’s tether it to the shoreline of its coastal surrounds in Cronulla. Assorted leather and fabric accents in rich nutmeg, olive greens and cumin, plus shimmers of copper and brass reflect the sharp and spicy notes of the grill house’s unique culinary offering.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Rachel Luchetti - Creative Director
Laura Arango Gil - Team Co-Ordinator
Stylist - Olga Lewis
Builder - Calida Projects
Project Manager - Global Projects
Project Brief
Our client wanted patrons to feel like they were sitting by the sea in Spain or Portugal, so we sculpted a grotto-like setting spliced with arches and ‘cut-out’ openings to rhythmically integrate the bar, main and private dining, plus open kitchen. Filling the vast industrial void with intriguing curves and bulges, we avoided structural right angles. Introducing this socially organic sentiment, an offset custom horseshoe maître d’ desk crafted by Hugh McCarthy and crowned with stone sits upon a pool of pearlescent quartz pebbles. Given the venue seats up to 300 patrons (including terrace dining), our interior scheme involved a fine balance, ensuring that the internal space remained open, yet provided a sense of seclusion and intimacy.
What differentiates this Mediterranean iteration from its sister steakhouse restaurants is its seafood focus and evolved cocktail and snack menu to attract a broader clientele beyond lunch and dinner. Granting the bar area almost one third of the internal footprint, we designed a shimmering Tadelakt-finished horseshoe island surrounded by table seating to encourage extended sittings. Incorporating an existing column, an elliptical canopy hovers above a central ‘mast’ where cantilevered shelves extend like sails, steering it towards a Mediterranean beach sunset granted by an optical woven artwork by another Australian artisan, Tammy Kanat. Hand-knotted Merino wool, silk and linen evoke ochre shades disappearing behind golden sands and pale aqua shorelines. The kitchen pass’ muted blue stone surface and the deeper aquatic cushioned seat bases on the outdoor terrace further float this seaside theme.
Project Innovation/Need
To subliminally connect the dining and bar areas, the assorted profiles of the maître d’ desk’s solid oak legs are echoed in the table surface shapes ranging from circles, squares and rectangles – some with chamfered edges and others with one rounded end. Within the oval private dining room, the solid oak rectangular tables possess triangular leg inserts exposed upon their surface. These three conjoined tables seat up to 22 guests. Offering flexibility, they can neatly line walls for cocktail gatherings.
With the exception of the woven artwork, all aesthetic finishes are custom. Inspired by Ottoman architecture, we lined the bar’s expansive wall with raised reliefs depicting the elaborate internal outlines of temple entrances and portico arches in exaggerated scale, accentuating their contours with mosaic tiles via assorted tessellated patterns. Arched grooves also punctuate the shelves of the bar area’s wine display, securing rows of bottles at various angles behind curved glass. Within the private dining room, we lined the rear wall with a Sienna red felt acoustic panel depicting on-theme interwoven arches (strategically positioned for the deep tone to be appreciated via the room’s openings, adding depth to the main dining room via its suffused glow). Suspended through a spliced ceiling, we collaborated with Studio Lehmann to create a cluster of ceramic pendants that instantly draw the room’s scale down to an intimate level. Alternating with uniquely contoured rims, they recall shells washed upon a shore. Below them, customised timber chairs with woven loom backs subtly enhance this seaside theme.
Design Challenge
Inheriting a vast concrete shell dotted with unevenly distributed industrial columns, the challenge was creating cosy nooks that defined the bar, restaurant, and private dining area without constructing enclosing walls. Backrests of extended banquettes gently cocoon the expansive dining area within their rounded returns and snaking free-forms that meld into service stations and ledges, aiding staff navigation via open sightlines, plus service efficiency. Opening sightlines towards drinking zones and the open kitchen and restaurant also encourages migration for patrons (a post meal drink or a meal after drinks in the bar). Thickly coated in an Ibiza Lime Plaster, surfaces absorb light in dramatic velvety swathes. As with all the walls, concealed uplights stud the back of the banquettes. Others stream downwards to enhance textural nuances, creating atmospheric shadow play come nightfall.
Throughout, scatterings of rich brown cork table surfaces muffle the room’s volume. Their tone, combined with the warm flicker of copper satin steel and brass finishes, subliminally reference the kitchen’s flame-grilled specialties. Exterior finishes were used indoors to blur the outside/inside connection. They include: tiled table surfaces and white mosaic bands supporting banquette seating, plus seams of pale terracotta and ceramic finger tiles flowing across contoured bases. Brick kickers line the bar’s surround adding a practical foot ledge for those seated. Adding visual interest, we filled their extruded holes with grout.
Sustainability
Having inherited poured concrete floors and dense circular support columns, rather than concealing the strong industrial bones, we altered the hard surfaces to aid sound absorption and add textural interest, transforming the vast space. Diamond grinding the floor to expose its aggregate, we then re-sealed it and lined the ceiling with nubby Envirospray (painting exposed services including lighting a matching charcoal grey shade). Almost four metres high, it recedes beyond the lighter amorphic frame that ebbs and flows within the room (most notably above the open kitchen), creating a more intimate atmosphere. Enhancing this emotively, we selected a warm clay pink finish to outline the edge of the bar’s elliptical canopy. It flows across to frame the arched doorway of the private dining room and lines the upper edges of the pronounced bulging bulkheads, enhancing multi-dimensional depths. We also added a light lacquer to a high datum line upon the existing columns to bounce light about.
Interior Design - Hospitality - Eat & Drink
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors where people eat and drink - this includes bars, restaurants, cafes and clubs. Judging consideration is 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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