Brothers Brewery + Juke Joint BBQ Mt Eden

Winner of an NZIA Auckland Architecture Award 2016
“This design seamlessly fuses manufacturing and production processes – the literally fluid process of brewing beer – with the occasion of hospitality and entertainment. It is a superbly understated addition to an otherwise bleak and inhospitable fringe of the city. The scene is set with an intimately proportioned external courtyard and main entrance framed by veranda seating to one side and a delicatessen-style food dispensary to the other – a very well conceived moment of arrival and pause prior to the main event. The main volume of the re-tasked warehouse is seemingly untouched, yet the environment has been enhanced immeasurably by an elementary series of spatial, structural, material and aromatic interventions. This intricate – and almost  impossibly carefree – interior simply invites relaxation.”

Citation – NZIA Auckland Architecture Awards Jury 2016

This project involved the adaptive reuse of a 1960s warehouse into a craft brewery, restaurant, commercial kitchen and bar with a north facing courtyard and covered outdoor dining area. The general design is industrial, but every effort has been made to make it warm and inviting, and while the main space is large it is not overwhelming. This is due to the brewery and bar occupying a central area in the old warehouse and breaking up the large floor area into different zones, the new brewery walls and bar are the only built elements that been inserted into this space.

The brewery walls are simple masonry block, 1.2m high, connecting the customers with the brewing process and the low island type bar is designed to be more informal and welcoming than traditional bars, allowing bar staff to engage with customers more easily as they discuss the flavours and intricacies of the extensive beer range.