Breathe Architecture

Captain Melville

Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke

CAPTAIN MELVILLE

Breathe Architecture

PHOTOGRAPHS
Andrew Wuttke

AREA
286.0 sqm

YEAR
2012

LOCATION
Melbourne, Australia

CATEGORY
Restaurant, Renovation, Interior Design

Captain Melville is the re-invention of a dark inner city nightclub into a restaurant and bar inspired by the ghosts of the hotels first patrons.

Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke
Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke

Amid a colony in a state of dichotomy, 1853 saw the construction of Mac’s Hotel – one of Victoria's first licensed hotels. Settlers flooded to our shores chasing land, gold and new beginnings, while convicts railed against their injustice and the class system that created it.

In the spirit of this historic, rebel narrative, the fit-out is conceptually based on the scene of mass occupation of Australia in the 1850's by immigrants chasing gold in the Australian Gold Rush.

Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke
Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke

Melbourne had then grown almost over night from a tiny village into a gridded tent city. The repetition of these simple peaked forms, erected from materials on hand in the settlement and laid over the landscape, became the conceptual framework for the design and material palette.

Welling up from beneath the colony came the influence of the rebel spirit; here manifest in the tale of Captain Melville, the "Gentleman" Bushranger.

Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke
Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke

Rousing a new layer of chaos and asymmetry this renegade sentiment permeates through the venue’s new identity, branding and raw materiality.


Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke
Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke
Captain Melville
© Andrew Wuttke


Captain Melville
Plan
Captain Melville
Diagram
Captain Melville
Section
Captain Melville
Facade

Breathe Architecture
T +61 3 93812007
Breathe Architecture
Studio 2/9 Florence St, Brunswick VIC 3056, Australia