Project Team
design: SJB Interiors
audio: BE Productions
The Commodore Hotel on Blues Point Road in North Sydney is an institution of a venue for the area. It has always had one of the best courtyards around – big and open, high off the street and under the dappled light of plane trees, it’s unbeatable. Inside however, it’s floundered. It never really worked for the winter months and lacked a sense of intimacy.
Over time, the Commodore had also become a little stale and was just part of the streetscape of Blues Point Road without any real presence. Locals tended to overlook it. The venue was in bad need of an injection of energy.
SJB had the venue repainted a vivid green and hung dozens of bamboo lanterns up high through the trees. Suddenly from the street it looked alive again. The courtyard furniture was all replaced with black steel chairs and solid timber tables.
The original kidney shaped bar has been retained and refinished with green mosaic tiles and above it hangs oversized woven rubber pendant lights from Gervasoni. In the bistro room has a 1950’s overtone with pastel green painted wall boarding and period pub posters of the North Sydney Bears and the North Sydney Olympic Pool.
This was a renovation to bring some openness and locality to The Commodore Hotel. It’s a place with colour and personality and finally a place for all seasons.
The venue also upgraded their audio systems using HK and One Systems.
Mark McAvoy of BE Productions was appointed by the Commodore to manage the installation, which included HK Audio IL8.1 cabinets for the front bar and One Systems’ brilliantly engineered 108IM weatherproof speakers for outside. The brief also called for a zoned solution involving the gaming area, function rooms and restrooms which was ably handled using a combination of dB Technologies and DSPPA amplifiers and celing mount speakers.