Vicinity is the vibrant new dining experience that brings heart, soul and fabulous cuisine around the clock to Bourke Rd in Sydney’s Inner South. New hotspot, Alexandria springs to life as the once gritty, tucked away industrial pocket is reimagined as an inner city, low rise gem with character.

“We built from the ground up,” says owner Rob Rubis, whose formidable experience in Sydney dining showcases his talent for creating the right restaurant for the right neighbourhood. “But we designed Vicinity to have the open, industrial feel of a warehouse.”

Architectural detailing like oversized, industrial style lighting; ties in beautifully with the feel of Alexandria’s manufacturing-turned-residential style; soaring ceilings and a generous deck under established trees add spatial grandeur, and an open kitchen allows diners to see Chef, Paul Pereira’s culinary team working at the coalface.

An ingenious design with flexible screening allows easy reconfiguration of the space for private functions, major events or everyday dining, while the outdoor deck is tailor made for casual BBQ.

The brief was to create an airy space with both the grandeur of industrial scale and the grit of an open workspace. Designer Peter Jansen of Northern Projects added the intricacy of design layers that allow Vicinity to transform according to our clientele’s needs and wishes. “Vicinity’s design and space planning was inspired by my world journeys and the amazing ideas I saw.”

It’s a vast, high-ceiling space that has been cunningly divided into zones using design elements – swathes of sheer fabric, a clutch of pendant lights, groups of like chairs – rather than walls. There’s a communal-table zone, another of more intimate dining tables, a large bar, a private function room, a lounge area and a generous deck with a sleek gas brazier alight on each table.

The private dining area has a standalone audio visual system with ceiling mounted pendant speakers, widescreen projector and motorised screen, while input sources include audio from laptop, Blu-ray player and Foxtel, and wireless microphone from front of local mixer/amplifier. The local system is controlled from a wall mounted keypad.

All other audio zones (main dining area sections A and B, holding/waiting area/toilets, and the outdoor dining area) are centrally controlled via wall and table docked iPads. The video wall has a central image display on 9 x 40” LCD screens with side arrangements showing independent images on 2 x 46” and 1 x 32” LED LCD screens. An interesting aspect of the toilets are the 6 x ceiling mounted LED LCD displays providing both entertainment and lighting!

Product credits go to AMX, Australian Monitor, Biamp, Bose, ElectriCinema, Extron, Kramer, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Screen Technics, and Shure.