2021 Eat Drink Design Awards: Best Cafe Design

Jury comment

An ebullient cafe in Newstead, just north of Brisbane’s ritzy James Street, Industry Beans has completely transformed an old brick warehouse space into the quintessential Queensland daytime eatery – white, bright, airy and welcoming. Laid out across two separate spaces, the old warehouse’s dock has been enclosed in a glass pavilion lined with greenery and flooded with natural light. Behind, a second high-ceilinged dining room is defined by its reams of pale timber and tiered banquette seating – it’s hard to imagine there being a bad seat in here. The care the designers have put into creating the cafe’s crisp, clean aesthetic is underlined by a lengthy coffee bar that has its espresso machines hidden beneath the countertop. The treatment serves Industry Beans Brisbane’s multilayered offering: this is a place as appropriate for long brunches as it is meetings or informal work sessions, while an eye-catching retail zone in the centre of the venue naturally draws in takeaway customers.

Design statement

The brief called for remodelling and extending an existing warehouse to create a layered, coffee-focused destination for casual dining and events, all within a cost- and time-effective program. As a multi-level 665-square-metre venue, there were two primary challenges. First, to create and activate several diverse zones for customers to enjoy over multiple visits; and second, to create intuitive circulation between these spatial experiences. Inserting new floor levels and building a new pavilion responded to these requirements, while also creating a topography on which to layer the brand aesthetic, defined across previous sites in Melbourne and Sydney, into this new flagship destination. Inherently sustainable in its reconfiguring of original warehouse features, the design is composed of durable and timeless materials: crisp white walls and concrete floors, brickwork and timber surfaces, softened by abundant greenery and animated throughout the day by the movement of natural light diffusing through a series of fins overhead.

Project credits

Design practice: Platform by DesignOffice; Project team: Damien Mulvihill, Mark Simpson, Phoebe Baker-Gabb, Kimberly Read

Industry Beans Brisbane is built on the land of the Yuggera and Turrbul peoples.

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See the whole gallery of images at the Eat Drink Design Awards website.

The 2021 Eat Drink Design Awards are organized by Architecture Media and supported by supporting partners Roca, Latitude and Yal Yal Estate; and presenting partner James Richardson Furniture.

The Eat Drink Design Awards are endorsed by the Australian Institute of Architects and the Design Institute of Australia.