Image Credit : Tom Debenham
Project Overview
The Grinders Coffee Flagship project is about bringing relevance and credibility back to one of Australia's pioneering coffee roasting brands. Where there is a deep and significant history attached to a brand, the challenge in paying respect to this through design is understanding the historical values, but embedding and reflecting these in a relevant way to the brand we know today. Indeed what we want to be achieving for the experiences of tomorrow. We worked tirelessly and in collaboration with the Grinders Coffee team to redefine what this space meant for the brand, and importantly for customers. The material palette of the design is a symphony of parts that culminate in a rich, immersive and accessible designed experience that respects the true essence of coffee, and indeed, the Grinders brand. It is now a truly immersive, multi zone experience that demonstrates live roasting of boutique street blends and a space where a broadened customer base can re-engage and experience the wonders of one of Australia's most iconic coffee brands.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Jacob Burke; Director of Projects/Creative
Connor Hana; Interior Architect
Tom Debenham; Interior Design & Documentation
Nick Pickering; Documentation
Scott Burroughs; Construction Services Management
Project Brief
The initial brief from Grinders was all about rejuvenation and the timing of the flagship store refurb aligned with the brand refresh that was to launch at MICE. Lygon Street was where the Grinders story began in 1962, it was time to respect this history, but create a retail experience for Grinders customers that was all about the sensory delight that is coffee. The brief centred around creating a physical brand experience that symbolised credibility; and that Grinders was about leadership and innovation within the industry. Essentially; the brief was to reinvigorate the Lygon Street location so that the brand was ‘seen and loved’ once again. Grinders wanted to send a dramatic signal to customers (and the industry alike) that this leadership was serious - and that the physical customer facing experience of the brand portrayed the innovation in the same way they are investing in new technologies in their roasting and grinding operations nationally. And most notably; being in Melbourne - a fundamental part of the brief was to actually be able to serve coffee!!
Project Innovation/Need
In building newfound respect and credibility through designed experience, most importantly was involving the customer in the actual live roasting process that occurs on-site. This store is where Grinders started roasting, and before this transformation, this 'wonder' was concealed by a solid wall. We have successfully removed structural walls and replicated the front facade inside the store. The experience now breaks down the industrialised process that is coffee roasting and involves the customer in it through sight, sound and taste. Our multi-disciplinary design approach also allowed us to create spatial zoning for the creation and installation of custom copper coffee silos that disperse stored coffee beans for customers to mix and create their own blend for grinding on-site. The culmination of these two innovative design solutions have ensured we created a beautiful, relevant retail experience for Grinders for 2016 and beyond. One however, that is full of respect for the past.
Design Challenge
When our team was working with Grinders to understand the objectives of the Lygon St store in context of physical brand experience; one of instant challenges was the size of the space itself. Working with only 27m2 required a lot of spatial planning strategy and balance on zonings within, together with understanding and identifying customer journey ‘time-in-store’ that the design was to effect. Other challenges included the incredibly tight timeframe for both design and construct. This was conceptualised, designed, developed and built/delivered in 2.5 months. This meant design resolution and value engineering was done on-site most of the time. The most critical was the structural issues we ran into with removal of the original centre-line wall. It was evident during demolition that there was in-fact only about 5 bricks holding the entire first level up, and the wall was built on sand at the base. All overcome nonetheless, and a centre-piece of the design (the new viewing glazed section to the roaster) was able to still be installed.
Sustainability
With a rich history; the concept of reuse was critical to preserving this heritage in the brand. The old facade and many of the original roasting and grinding equipment pieces first used by founder Giancarlo have been preserved in the new build and are being relocated to Grinders Coffee Head Office in Fairfield, Victoria, where (at present) we are currently rebuilding the original store facade in the foyer to create a 'memorabilia' section where the many and varied visitors can view and appreciate this rich heritage of the brand. Being front of mind and in sight, ensures that the founding principles of the brand are never forgotten, all whilst the brand embarks on ensuring that the product is relevant and industry-leading for today and beyond.
Interior Design - Hospitality
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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