Wineries make a splash in South Australian architecture awards
If last night’s announcements of the winners and highly commended projects in the 2017 AIA South Australian Architecture Awards in Adelaide didn’t result in a din of clinking glasses and much shared bonhomie, then you can bet plenty of good food and great wine went down during the long process of making so many new, revamped or interesting hospitality venues across the state.
By far Australia’s dominant wine producing state – with twice as much land under vine as its next largest competitor NSW – it’s little surprise that in the SA award lists three of the names attach to famous wine making labels and one to a very large old distillery that has been bought back from the dead in the Riverland’s main town of Renmark.
It no surprise either that with food and wine being of such importance to SA’s tourism profile, the dollar investment in venues worth hanging around in both before and after a long lunch, has obviously been significant.
The interior of the Penfolds Magill Estate winery. Photo: Peter Barnes
Taking two top awards – one for Commercial Architecture and one for Interior Design – was the granddaddy of SA labels and the maker of the mythical Grange Hermitage, Penfolds, whose foundation Magill Estate was extended by Denton Corker Marshall.
DCM, the Melbourne-spawned practice that works on massive projects internationally, concentrated the expanded cafe, cellar door, tasting rooms and VIP cellar buildings back to Magill Estate’s historic centre where they were able to feature some of the original 1844 stone walls built by founders Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold.
And with Grange being a heritage protected wine, and the red-capped bottles of the extensive varieties that come off Penfold’s 13 South Australian vineyards being so recognisable, why wouldn’t the architects use bottles laid on their sides on the tasting room shelves as a graphic device?
St Hugo’s new wine cellar and tasting room in the Barossa, that won an Interior Commendation for studio-gram with JGB Architects, had similar recourse to reusing 1854 stone walls and recycled ancient Ironbark timber in the teardrop-shaped table made for the curved tasting room.
Peter Rabbit cafe, Adelaide. Photo: James McIntyre
At Woodside up in the Adelaide Hills, and recipient of another commendation in the Commercial Architecture category, Grieve Gillett Anderson Architects partially demolished an old homestead back to original fireplaces and then built up a simple, rectangular building that creates stories out of old materials and serves as the cellar door and hospitality venue.
A projecting blade wall of rammed earth is made of earth from the label’s three vineyards; in the Clare Valley, the Adelaide Hills and the Coonawarra. Walls, counter fronts and some ceiling panels are constructed out of old French oak riddling racks that are attractively back lit.
At Renmark, the historic and huge 1914 distillery that Chateau Tunanda built and that was subsequently run by a quorum of local grape growers before going bust in 2002, has been bought back to life by Walter Brooke Architects as the Twenty Third Street Distillery.
Now also a winery, cellar door and events venue it won a Heritage Commendation.
So cheers to all of that good work.
And now that you’ll be in need of a coffee or hearty breakfast to follow the party, it’s worth acknowledging another interesting commendation.
This one is a cafe in the former neglected West End of Adelaide that has been made around a repurposed shipping container by three friends, James McIntyre, a town planner, Dan Morton, who built it, and Jack Nelligan, a physio who runs it as a cafe and organic food designation.
Peter Rabbit on Hindley Street has a productive veggie patch on the container’s roof and a wonderful garden ambience on a patch of ground that was so recently a scene of swirling dirt and rubble.
The winners and commendation list:
Commercial Architecture
Keith Neighbour Award – Penfolds Magill Estate by Denton Corker Marshall
Commendation – Plant 4 Bowden by Ashley Halliday Architects
Commendation – Micro X by Tridente Architects
Commendation – Petaluma Cellar Door by Grieve Gillett Andersen
Educational Architecture
Commendation – Flinders University Student Hub and Plaza by Woods Bagot
Heritage
David Saunders Award – Lounder’s Boathouse by Mulloway Studio
Award – North Adelaide Barn by Williams Burton Leopardi
Commendation – Twenty Third Street Distillery by Walter Brooke
Interior Architecture
Robert Dickson Award – Penfolds Magill Estate by Denton Corker Marshall
Award – Walter Brooke Studio Fitout by Walter Brooke
Commendation – number 6 by Black Rabbit Architecture and Interiors
Commendation – St Hugo by studio-gram with JBG Architects
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations & Additions)
The John Schenk Award – Dutton Terrace Alterations by Ashley Halliday Architects
Award – North Adelaide Barn by Williams Burton Leopardi
Award – number 6 by Black Rabbit Architecture and Interiors
Commendation – House Maud by Taylor Buchtmann Architecture
Commendation – Kool Haus by sw-architects
Commendation – Tennyson by John Adam Architect
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
The John S Chappel Award – Crayon House by Grieve Gillett Andersen
Award – Karkalla Dunes by Max Pritchard Gunner Architects
Commendation – Frewville Lo-Fi by Taylor Buchtmann Architecture
Commendation – Cardillo House by Max Pritchard Gunner Architects
Commendation – House in the Adelaide Foothills by Warwick O’Brien Architects
Commendation – Clare HPR by BB Architects
Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing
Commendation – Kalyra Heights Village Extension Belair by Flightpath Architects
Small Project Architecture
Marjorie Simpson Award – Great Southern Rail Platinum Club by Woods Bagot
Commendation – Gallery 7 by Mulloway Studio
Commendation – Agile X Uni SA Pavilion by Uni SA
Sustainable Architecture
Award – Plant 4 Bowden by Ashley Halliday Architects
Award – Crayon House by Grieve Gillett Andersen
Commendation – WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff Workplace by JPE Design Studio
Commendation – Flinders University Student Hub and Plaza by Woods Bagot
Commendation – Clare HPR by BB Architects
Urban Design
Gavin Walkley Award – Anzac Centenary Memorial Walk by Grieve Gillett Andersen
Enduring Architecture
Jack Cheesman Award – Adelaide Super-Drome by Carlo Gnezda and SACON
COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture
Award – Port Augusta Sterile Insect Production Facility by Phillips/Pilkington Architects
The City of Adelaide Prize
Prize Winner – Anzac Centenary Memorial Walk by Grieve Gillett Andersen
Commendation – Peter Rabbit by James McIntyre
Commendation – Rundle Mall Redevelopment by HASSELL
