Hilton Melbourne South Wharf has revealed a multi-million dollar ground floor restaurant and bar refurbishment.
By January 2015, the refurbished space will have been reimagined into a new combined restaurant and bar and five flexible meeting and event spaces in a AUD$4 million works programme.
“After five years in the market we know what our guests want,” said Hilton Melbourne South Wharf General Manager, Brett Christ. “We believe that the new spaces will give us a competitive edge in the market and complement the premium product we offer through South Wharf Meetings and Events, in partnership with Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
“We are confident that we will build on the successes Hilton Melbourne South Wharf has enjoyed so far,” he said.
Architecture firm Noel Robinson Architects (NRA) was engaged to undertake the redesign. The brief was to repurpose and re-invigorate the spaces, and provide a sensitive response to the building’s envelope. Their response was to retain the existing built form with the creation of a series of themed, linked objects in the space.
“The new meeting and function space, bar and restaurant were inspired by the hotel’s dramatic interior which informed the palette of materials, colours, spaces and forms,” said NRA’s project architect David Palmer.
“Our design was to creatively re-invigorate the space by introducing new interior envelopes, respecting the original aesthetic and provide hotel visitors and guests the opportunity to experience and interact with the new culturally enlightened environment,” he said.
The result will be a series of completely flexible spaces for dining, drinking, meetings and events. The new 150-seat restaurant and bar will bring together the elements of water and earth to create a distinctive menu and atmosphere that speaks to its riverside surrounds, and will make guests feel relaxed and at home. The new meeting and events spaces will reinvent the best of the existing indoor/outdoor spaces and create flexible rooms full of bespoke touches and intimate moments.
