Following our successful work with the Lendlease Melbourne team in 2019, I was asked to look after a project to build a café in the lobby of an office building in Docklands. 

There were high expectations all round – the building lobby is spectacular, the tenant is an extremely experienced operator with very high standards, and the push was on to create something that would encourage people to come back to the office. 

When we were engaged there was a design almost finalised which included stunning Kumiko timber feature panels.  Because these are handcrafted in Japan, careful coordination was required to make sure everything came together before opening. 

Challenge: complicated joinery with elements from overseas
Solution: close collaboration with an excellent builder

Joinery of this calibre is usually crafted using careful measurements from site, so having feature panels that would be coming from overseas form such an integral part of the design would be tricky to get right. 

We worked very closely with the builder, poring over plans, examining where the Kumiko panels would join the panels being built in Melbourne. 

Next we spent time at the factory, playing with sections of timber to see how corners and sides would meet up and what we would need to allow for. 

Following the factory sessions, the drawings were amended to make sure that every detail was captured.   

Once the Kumiko panels arrived from Japan, there was another factory session to examine them in detail and check our original decisions so that everyone understood what would be delivered on site. 

In the background, the services works and carcasses for all the joinery were being built on site.  The builder then created templates on site for all joinery panels, bringing them back to the factory to use to cut the final panels for site. 

The result is a stunning café with a unique look and precise detailing, including bespoke refrigeration units clad in stone.