Gelato Messina Glenelg
GELATO MESSINA GLENELG
Sans-arc Studio
ARCHITECTS
Sans-arc Studio
BUILDER
5 Star Property Services
DESIGN CONSULTANT
Peculiar Familiar
PHOTOGRAPHS
Jonathan VDK
AREA
138 m²
YEAR
2025
LOCATION
Glenelg, Australia
CATEGORY
Retail Interiors
English description provided by the architects.
Messina Glenelg approaches the gelato shop as a social interior - one shaped by nostalgia, collective memory and the rituals of summer.
Rather than resolving the brief as a conventional hospitality fit-out, the project uses boldness as an architectural strategy, translating the simple pleasure of gelato into a spatial experience that is public, generous and deliberately engaging.
Referencing the saturated colour and visual excess of southern Italian gelato stores, the interior draws on shared memories of summer evenings, promenade crowds, and the charged anticipation of choosing a flavour.
Set along Jetty Road, the beachside store is open and street-facing, operating as an extension of Glenelg's beachfront life rather than a sealed commercial interior.
Informed by radical design and Sicilian gelato culture, colour is applied with intent - playful but controlled - creating an immersive environment that remains legible and cohesive.
There are subtle echoes of arcade lights and vendor carts competing for attention, lending the space an energy that feels instinctive rather than styled.
The plan prioritises openness and movement over dwelling. Generous circulation allows the interior to accommodate peak summer crowds while remaining comfortable during quieter periods.
Fixed seating is limited - acknowledging gelato as a fleeting social ritual - while banquettes and high tables provide brief moments of pause without interrupting flow.
Materially, the interior is robust and deliberately unprecious. Illuminated panels, reflective surfaces, and custom insertions create visual depth, while graphic interventions and lightboxes featuring photographs of Sicily anchor the exuberance in lived experience and place.
Stadium seating - durable, playful, and faintly absurd - reinforces the project's irreverent tone.
In engaging directly with the street, Messina Glenelg contributes to the social rhythm of the strip.
Like the gelato it serves, the interior is immediate, generous, and memorable - designed to be enjoyed in the moment, and to linger quietly in memory.
The ritual – and as a result of its approachability through use of colour – acts as a cross-cultural and multi-generational connector, adding significant civic value to the beachside setting.
