Architects SMLWRLD set out to discover a new relationship between the dining spaces and what is consumed within them. This search lead to the image of a French wine press, a rough crucible refining valuable contents, an inspiration that translated into detailed timber expressions of gentle force, careful layering of colour and depth of texture. Material choices focused on the combined warmth of timber and burnished brass, elsewhere blackened steel indicates structural changes made in the spirit of a Victorian industrial history. Woven through the network of intimate and connected dining spaces, blue surfaces create a circling moat that separates old from new, privileging the history of this unique Melbourne building. via
