Project Team
design: Red Design Group
structural engineers: Irwin Consultlighting: Aglo Lighting
Suppliers
lighting: Rakumba Lighting, Space Furniture, Satelight, Aglo Systems,
Dean Phillips Architectural Lighting,Inlite
carpet: Brintons
fabric: Kvadrat Maharam, Instyle
wallpaper: Seneca Textiles, Baresque, The Selvedge Group
tiles: Classic Ceramics, Bespoke Tiles, Academy Tiles
furniture: Interstudio, Feelgood Designs, Café Culture + Insitu,Chairbiz, Temperature Design,Cubus Concepts
The recent refurbishment of Steeples Mornington included new deck extensions, gaming floor, bistro, private dining, entry and bathroom refurbishments, totalling approx. 1050sqm.
The refurbishment of this project was aimed on extending the existing bistro and gaming areas, adding external terraces for dining as well as smoking. The site had a great outlook onto the surrounding landscape, so the designers were able to make this work to the benefit of the design.
“The aim was to ensure we created a comfortable ambience for the space, whilst adding a level of casual sophistication,” commented Stephen Tieppo, designer. “For the gaming, we looked at extending the space to allow more gaming machines, whilst retaining most of the existing bars and services; these were given a soft makeover with new cladding. Walls and carpets were given a complete new look whilst the ceilings were made to work with what we had. The dining area was expanded to allow for a separate (yet connected) function room. Again, the main bar was retained and re-faced, whilst the kitchen servery was made less canteen like and hidden. The project was staged to allow the venue to remain operational as much as possible.”
Carpet design became an important factor. Stephen chose the Brintons Timorous Beasties large frond/leafy pattern for the dining area as he wanted to extend on the surrounding gardens and grounds, and add to this important outlook. The colours were tweaked to create a vibrant, fresh colour palette. He played around with different distributions and borders to work with the two areas that are separated for different functions but can also work as one
For the gaming carpets, Stephen worked with Brintons to develop two of their existing patterns into a colour palette that was rich and vibrant, and exaggerated the scale as the client was keen on large pattern repeats.
The elements that tie the concept together are the indoor-outdoor spaces and thresholds, along with a bespoke joinery element that separates the main dining and function areas but at the same time can be closed off, allows the spaces to work seamlessly.
There was a limited budget for lighting, so Stephen relied on a few decorative signature pieces and worked with Satelight to create simple pendant lights that added personality to the spaces. Functional/task lighting was made as simple as possible
The main feature in the design is the integration of the indoor to the outdoor environment. The outlook to the equine training facility via the generous glazed areas allow for the immersion of the patron into the outdoor environment. Water features incorporated into the terrace planting areas, bespoke joinery and screening elements (incorporating lasercut and tiled features).
The end result was a collaborative approach with client and designers to make sure Red Design optimized the design impact with the allowable capital expenditure. There was much exchange of ideas with the design, but in the end, the venue is trading magnificently, so that’s got to make it a successful project
The patrons have embraced the new design to the point that dining bookings were essential to cater for the level of interest. Sales budgets for the bistro were easily realized. Stephen expects that the local population were waiting on the upgrade of this venue and have embraced it completely.