Image Credit : Tom Blachford
Project Overview
Conceived as an urban rooftop farm showcasing farm to table eating within a commercial shopping centre development, Acre Eatery is a sophisticated and sustainably focused restaurant located in suburban Melbourne.
Project Commissioner
Tully Heard Consulting Pty Ltd
Project Creator
Team
Katherine Kemp _ ZWEI Director / Architect
Narisha Santoso _ ZWEI Director _ Associate Architect
Damien Plessas DPC Services Engineer
Stephen Choi LBC Manager
Project Brief
Part of the Burwood Brickworks' development by Frasers Property, the world’s most sustainable shopping centre, Acre Eatery is an urban rooftop farm showcasing ‘farm to table’ eating in an urban setting. With over 2500sqm of roof space, the site comprises of hydroponic glasshouses, quail coops, worm farms and over 1000sqm of garden beds all delivering fresh produce direct to the restaurant table at Acre.
The Brickworks site is part of the Living Building Challenge (LBC), the world’s most rigorous sustainable performance certification for buildings. The Living Building Challenge is a green building certification program and sustainable design framework that visualizes the ideal for the built environment and requires genuine certifications over a 12 month period. All components for the Acre site were assessed against the LBC Certification and were required to meet the rigorous LBC standards, an arduous and detailed process.
The design for the space was driven by the available approved materiality and limited budget for the site. The vision was to create a sophisticated, authentic food space that did not look overtly rustic yet met the necessary sustainable credentials for the site.
Project Innovation/Need
Acre Eatery is a hospitality project that is truly sustainable. In order to meet the Living Building Challenge each component of the build was assessed in detail with each material component captured and understood.
Most components of a build are made of a number of ingredients, and the team was required to fully research and capture each ingredient of each material for every item that was included on the build. On this basis, many proposed materials were rejected and sustainable substitutes were sourced, all within tight lead-times and to an extremely tight budget.
The success of this project is not only the sustainable certification, but the fact that the space is not limited by a narrow selection of approved materials. The restaurant reflects the design intent; a sophisticated, authentic dining space that connects people from the urban farm to what is on their table.
Design Challenge
Working to a very tight timeline and limited build budget, the design team worked closely with the fit-out contractors and build certifiers (LBC) to quickly deliver a compliant build that met the opening deadline for the centre.
The team needed to be flexible and to think quickly when met with the limitations of lead times and budget with carefully selected sustainable materials including salvaged oregon timber, recycled bricks and bamboo.
Sustainability
Being part of the Living Building Challenge, sustainability was the integral driving force behind the project and informed every decision - from concept through to completion.
Every material was scrutinised by the LBC including the ingredients list of every single component - a daunting but extremely educational experience.
Our Team learnt so much through this process that it has generated a renewed passion and understanding that, yes, we can make a change through design.
Tags
Interior Design - Hospitality - Casual
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors where people eat and drink - this includes bars, restaurants, cafes and clubs. Judging consideration is given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes, aesthetic presentation and functionality. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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