Sydney's Best New Spaces of 2017
Honouring the best new additions to Sydney's design scene this year.
Sydney's Best New Spaces of 2017
Honouring the best new additions to Sydney's design scene this year.
It has been a tumultuous year for Sydney's hospitality scene. We've said farewell to some short-lived favourites — Bar Brosé, Eleven Bridge and The Antipodean to name a few — we've lamented the changes to the 457 visa and the hospitality sector's staff shortage and we continue to fight the lockout laws. But where there have been closures, innovative new ventures have risen from the ashes. We've seen the opening of a slew of new bars, restaurants, cafes, pubs, spaces and events — and they're not all from the big players, independent ventures are flourishing.
Venues have spent more time on their appearances, collaborating with local designers, architects and street artists to create stunning spaces. This prompted the creation of our new category, Best New Space. We've searched far and wide to find our favourite, visually stunning, innovative and sustainable spaces that are accessible to you — including shops, hotels, co-working hubs and public spaces.
At Concrete Playground we encourage exploration and showcase innovation in our city every day, so we thought it fitting to reward those most talented whippersnappers pushing Sydney to be a better, braver city. And so, these six new spaces, opened in 2017, have been nominated for Best New Spaces in Concrete Playground's Best of 2017 Awards.
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By now it has been established that Merivale is a hospitality group of many talents, and none is more evident than its ability to curate a coherent theme in its venues. The group’s newest venue Mr Liquor’s Dirty Italian Disco is no exception to this rule, combining elements of taste and aesthetic to create a venue that’s immersive in its narrative without forsaking the essentials: good food and great drinks. This time round Merivale’s got the crew from Pinbone on-board to take over the kitchen (read: drive-through bottle shop) at Mascot’s Tennyson Hotel.
Behind the lively design is Kelvin Ho of Akin Creative, who worked closely with Sydney tattooist Rick Vaughn, aka Four Eyes, to bring the previously bare walls to life with a series of bespoke illustrations. Vaughn has travelled the world creating body art, but here his art works playfully adorn the walls, tables, menus and uniforms throughout the restaurant and disco.
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Look around you. While you sneakily read this article at work, pay close attention to your surroundings. Are they dull? Do you have a baller view or is it beige cubicles far as the eye can see? Have you the requisite poster of a cat hanging off a ledge, reminding you that life is a struggle for even the most noble of animals? Yeah. Same. But it needn’t be like this. People are resigning themselves to the fact that if we have to spend so much damn time at work, we might as well work in a nice environment. Cue Muse, Surry Hill’s newest contemporary co-working space.
Muse is determined to balance the creative and career aspects of life, with a co-working space packed extras that will make you actually want to go to work. Their calendar is littered with yoga classes, social and networking events, art classes and exhibitions and professional workshops.
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Everyone loves the idea of living in a swanky New York apartment with the exposed brick walls and high ceilings. And the rejuvenated Griffiths Teas Building is one of the best recent examples going around, but after having sat vacant for more than 30 years it needed a spectacular revitalising redesign. Thankfully it got one with new owner Cornerstone Property Group appointing prominent architecture practice PopovBass to lead the project.
A landmark of the city’s fringes for the last one hundred years, the building has been redesigned to include 38 apartments and a striking restaurant space. With the structure’s attractive wedge shape already a favourite, the focus was on transforming the interior into a smart and polished space — ideal for those seeking a lavish but laid-back home. Maintaining the early 20th-century feel, PopovBass put the original internal structure to great use with the high ceilings, exposed brick walls and finely detailed windows used to maximum effect.
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Melbourne-born furniture label Jardan now has a new space in which to showcase its covetable designs with a stunning Sydney flagship store on Paddington’s Oxford Street. IF Architecture — the Melbourne firm responsible for the likes of wine bar Marion, Cutler & Co’s recent makeover and Jardan’s Melbourne and Brisbane stores — has transformed the two-storey art deco building once home to Ariel Booksellers into a seriously good-looking showroom, where colour reigns supreme.
Reflecting Jardan’s own 30-year connection with Australian home life, the interiors of the new store pay homage to the country’s most influential art and design families, inspired by their iconic interpretations of Sydney’s ever-changing colour palette. To that end, expect tones that speak to the vivid blues of Brett Whiteley’s Sydney Harbour painting, the oranges, blues and greens synonymous with Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy’s Dinosaur Designs, and the bold colours favoured by celebrated interior designer Marion Hall Best.
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Sydney’s CBD has landed a major dose of the Tokyo-esque practical and compact, with the former Bar Century space reopening in May as The Capsule Hotel, a three-storey, luxury boutique stay. The George Street cheap drinks den, which closed in 2016, was taken over by developer Walter Guo, who invested a massive $5 million on a full interior refurb, carried out by interior design consultants Giant Design. The heritage building has somewhat retained its vintage fit-out but with more of a nod to the futuristic space-like capsules of The Fifth Element.
The bar and hotel are running as separate entities, with the first two levels acting as The Century Bar, while the top three floors of the building are dedicated to the capsules. Each of the 70 capsules contains a large flatscreen TV and entertainment system, Wi-Fi, and a climate control panel. Guests can choose from single or deluxe beds with entry from either the side or the end of the capsule.
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There’s getting away. And then there’s disappearing to your own private, tiny house in the wilderness — miles from any sign of human interference. Meet Unyoked, a new Australian independent accommodation option that lets you do just that. Importantly, this is not a hotel. Founded and run by twins Cam and Chris Grant, the off-the-grid experience brings you the convenience and comforts of four solid walls, alongside the adventure, spontaneity and closeness-to-nature of camping.
Here’s how. With the help of designer and builder Alice Nivison and eco-consultant Richie Northcott from Sydney design studio Fresh Prince, the brothers have designed and built four tiny houses throughout New South Wales — both sustainable and solar-powered. They’ve been placed in secret patches of wilderness on private properties, in the middle of nowhere. Anytime you want to flee the city, disconnect and recharge, all you have to do is book one and jump in your car. And all houses are no more than three hours’ drive from Sydney.
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