Step back in time at the Astor Hotel in Albury NSW. Our brief was to bring this tired motel and hospitality venue back to its mid-century modern origins. The transformation has created a Palm Springs-style oasis with flexible hospitality areas, including an all-weather beer garden, public bar and restaurant.
Client
Location
The Traditional Owners of this land
Completion
Site Area
Gross Floor Area
Services
Architecture
Collaborators
Eleisha Gray - Styling
Photographer
“I wanted something fresher, and I wanted someone to do it who was going to break the mould. There’s a bit of a revitalisation of jumping in the car and going on a driving holiday, especially in today’s environment, and I think this sets the bar for others by showing what can be done.”
– Peter Griffiths, Client
A new all-weather beer garden
The floating polycarb super structure with a feature timber ceiling, references the floating horizontal planes with expessed structure of mid-century architecture. This allows natural light to permeate whilst the strategically placed timber battens create playful shadows.
Robust materiality with nostalgic charm
Low height breezeblock fence allow views into and out of the beer garden, once again paying homage to mid-century residential and hotel aesthetic of Palm Springs. Like-wise, the crazy paving ties into this theme, grounding the entire beer garden with a unique and hard-wearing surface, perfect for Albury community, music or family events all year round.
Aluminium Click-on Battens in 'Blackbutt' timber finish by Sculptform
Japanese 'Minokoyo' tiles from Academy Tiles in 87940 finish
Crazy Pave 'Porphyry' by Eco Outdoor
Landscaping by Ayus Botanical
The restaurant connected to the pub has distinctly warmer tones to emulate the intimacy of a traditional public bar. Textured upholstery and perforated wall screening were used to elevate the touch points and create a sense of craftsmanship. Styling by Eleisha Gray introduced wall murals by local artist, Elin Matilda.