High Commendation at the Eat Drink Design Awards
The team at BEST. are proud to have been given a Special Commendation at the 2018 Eat Drink Design Awards. In a room of industry peers, the announcement was made at the award ceremony on Tuesday, November 13th at The Luminare. Awards were given by Editor and Food Writer Jill Dupliex and Restaurant Critic Terry Durack.
"The annual Eat Drink Design Awards supports innovation and excellence in the design of hospitality premises of all scales and types, retail environments for the sale of food and beverages and visual identities for both. The program recognises and celebrates Australia and New Zealand’s best projects, rewarding design achievement in seven categories".
The 'Installation' category for the Eat Drink Design award recognises achievement in the design of a temporary space, such as pop-up venues, mobile food vehicles, marquees and promotional installations. OHANA fitted the criteria perfectly. The project having been created as a promotional 'pop up' for client Wyndham Marina Developments who hatched the idea to develop an unused helipad located on a seawall for a planned period of 18 months.
The project was the perfect blend of skills between our designers, the developers and restaurateurs to create a popular and unique attraction to Wyndham Marina.
BEST. was engaged to work on all design development and documentation for the site. The two key challenges of the brief were the exposure to the elements on a seawall and knowledge that the venue may need to be relocated at a moments notice. The project also needed to be designed, built and delivered in under 12 weeks. The result; three 40-foot and a single 20-foot shipping container, into a fully functioning pizza restaurant.
The material choices of shipping materials not only suits the harsh environment but also fit perfectly to the desired 'seafarers' and 'shipping' theme of the OHANA brand. The design required maximum efficiency in the use of space with pizza bar, bar service, kitchen and cool room all being located in 2.5 x 18M area. This was accompanied by 2 additional high top containers for customer seating.
The entire restaurant has the capacity to be relocated in a number of hours, with the majority of fittings and fixtures immediately removable or permanently fixed to the exterior shipping container shell.
80% surrounded by water, the design has a focus on ensuring every patron has a relatively uninterrupted view of the water. Windows facing toward a central outdoor seating area lift to open the sizes of the container and create a feeling of being outdoors while remaining protected. The site provides some challenges due to exposure to weather and all material selected ensured this was the primary focus. All spaces can be hosed clean both externally and internally providing easy management of spaces.
A core premise of contemporary design is to advance human experiences. OHANA does just that. Set amongst Wyndham Harbour with incredible views over Port Phillip Bay to the Melbourne Skyline, this project demonstrates that temporary hospitality design can enhance the social fabric of new communities. As the development continues to flourish, the reuse of used shipping containers on land not flagged for use for some years time has created a much wanted (and needed) gathering place for new residents and locals of close proximity whom otherwise had very restricted access to food and beverage amenity.
Alive and well populated, this simple, highly functional contemporary design execution is humble, unpretentious, restrained and honest. Above all, with the warmth of open fire pits, it’s a fine expose of how contemporary design enhances lives.
BEST. also created brand development and social media assets. Shipping containers housing a fully functioning restaurant located on a seawall at a marina is a unique combination of factors. These provided the perfect platform for a seafaring design theme for OHANA. The brand colours speaking directly to the interior and exterior design palette a combination of Dulux Shale Grey, Vivid White, Companion and Orange Vigor.
Working with restauranteur and OHANA operator Callum Kaka (formerly of Bank Street Wood Fired Pizza), Callum and the BEST. team worked collaboratively to ensure space was functional and used to a maximum level of efficiency. The high top of shipping containers provide manageable 'above head' storage spaces, while every corner and undershelf area has a purpose.
"OHANA is one of the smallest but most practical hospitality spaces I have ever worked in, located in one of the most impractical environments. Beautiful, but totally impractical as we are constantly battered by the sea. What I love beside the way it looks is that space is efficient and most of all functional. To create a worker-friendly kitchen and bar in only 2 x 12 meters of space, which also homes the behemoth Polito 1600 pizza oven, is a freaking miracle". Callum Kaka
BEST. is now working on the development of Kaka's latest project Northern Republic. Due to open December 2018 in Euroa.
