Set in an inner-city double fronted warehouse shell, Code Black is the new roastery and headquarters of the Melbourne based Cafenatics operations. With the roasting process on full display and a strong use of raw black steel, stained OSB board and concrete, the space communicates a language of rawness and simplicity as a stripped back, masculine, almost reverential ode to the coffee bean.

Seeking to accommodate both a new roasting operation and the HQ for the current administration of the existing business, alongside a public coffee outlet, Code Black Coffee comprises two mirror image warehouse shells.

One side houses the primary coffee roaster and coffee outlet, the other the administration, operations and dispatch. No area within the space has hierarchy over the other. Each space is clearly defined whilst sitting

easily alongside the adjunct spatial programmes - leading into each other and creating focus and a play on perspective. As a customer entering the coffee outlet your eye is lead past the servery into the depth of the building, where like a religious alter, the roaster arrogantly resides.

Using dark, warm tones to mute the volume, lighting and form create drama within the building’s shell. Yellow highlights punctuate the ceiling of the kitchen and office areas and fabric seating is a Josef Frank coffee bean illustration imported from Sweden. Materials throughout reflect the Code Black branding as the hue of the black colour base, and a strong use of raw black steel uses a language of masculinity, rawness and simplicity.