Marrickville Warehouse, Australian Architecture, New South Wales Interior Project, Photos

Marrickville Warehouse in Sydney

NSW Commercial Building in Sydney, Australia – design by Adele McNab Architect

1 Oct 2019

Marrickville Warehouse, NSW

Design: Adele McNab Architect

Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

The kitchen is at the heart of the Marrickville Warehouse space with its open, warm and comfortable design. The concept is designed for people to gather, converse, cook and inspire conversation about sausage making. With capacity for cooking classes, a specially designed sausage making room, and interactive product display, the space makes butchery fun and accessible to all.

The upstairs area has been doubled through building a new mezzanine. Exposed raw concrete replaces the old plaster board walls and an open balustrade allows visibility and flow into the downstairs production area.

A new double height ceiling is integrated with pendant lighting to create both a lofty and intimate experience. The ceiling is in a tonal green to complement this.

The material palette consisting of concrete, stainless steel and plywood, give a no frills and fresh look consistent with the business’ focus on transparency and innovation.

Translucent polycarbonate walls and lightwells spread natural light throughout the whole warehouse. Round portal windows also provide light into, and visual relief from, the confines of the refrigerated area. These features limit the need for artificial lighting and make the space more enjoyable to work in.

The project started with a study of materials best suited to withstanding salt (used to preserve natural sausage casings), the hardiness of a working warehouse, and meeting specific food safety standards. Rather than giving in to a standard design, a fresh and inspiring concept was key whilst delivering on function.

Refrigeration equipment is required for preservation of the product and it consumed the bulk of the budget. Rather than compromise the design, the simple and inexpensive material palette is utilised in a way that enhances it. Among other details, the stainless steel kitchen benchtop has a slender design with its shark tooth edge detail and the fibre cement splashback works cohesively with the tone of the cabinet doors and concrete walls.

The clients brief was for additional production and storage space, a new product showroom and kitchen to their warehouse.

Adaptive reuse of materials was thoughtfully considered with this project, for example new cupboard fronts adorned the existing kitchen joinery internals. Existing furniture was restored or materials reused for new furniture pieces.

Stripping back the existing plasterboard walls to expose the structural concrete walls beneath, reduced the need for new material usage and expresses the simple and functional finish pallet of the project.

This project implements new styles, for example, fibre cement panels are used for the kitchen joinery and polycarbonate panels for internal wall panelling. These atypical approaches to the material enhance the industrial nature of the project and make for a more memorable customer experience.

Fixed windows can now be opened for cross ventilation and connection with the outdoors; a connection strengthened by a multitude of plants.

The passive cooling and lighting reduce power usage. These features have added benefit for the business through increased worker satisfaction.