Situated in the Yorkshire Brewery Tower, a six-storey, late 19th-century structure which forms part of an eponymous redeveloped brewery complex in Melbourne‘s vibrant Collingwood district, the newly opened ULA café has quickly gained a following with its coffee and tea concoctions and understated industrial setting. Designed by architecture practice SuiL, the café occupies a voluminous 150 sqm. (1,615 sq.ft.) ground floor space. Much of the listed building has obviously been retained and used as a backdrop for the new setting, while added volumes aim to reflect individual windows and doors, subtly bridging connections between the inside and outside. Given its stature as a listed building, attention to detail has been crucial to ensure the new elements blended seamlessly with the heritage walls.
The counter colour and break line detail continue the heritage walls while differing for various uses. The cement render finish brings in solidity and creates a sense of timelessness, while the bluestone-like porcelain tiles with a raised floor on the slab continue the external floor finishes and the tower base. Interestingly, a specially created buffer space underneath, minimises the moisture and damp impact on the old structure. As for lighting, new track lighting sits at the height of the original feature steel beams, adding flexibility to the atmosphere of the space. A new sliding door engages with the feature graffiti pattern on the wall when it’s closing, adding a quirky touch to the setting. As said, ULA serves coffee and tea in equal measure, and that’s quite unique, and that’s obviously reflected in the menu which lists a variety of specialty pour-over coffees, ditto teas, and a selection of snacks.
ULA
1a/2 Mansard Lane (Collingwood)
Melbourne, VIC 3066
Mon-Fri 7am-2pm
Sat 8pm-2pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
