Shambles Brewery
Photographer Ben Hosking and Andrew Knott
Shambles Brewery belies its title. This enterprise, another in the burgeoning world of Craft Beer, it is the creation of three mates who dreamt a dream of beautiful beer. Enter room11 Architects, who were briefed to “spend any money left over from brewing equipment” on Architecture.
Located between the City and North Hobart, Shambles Brewery is part of an strategic urban renewal along Elizabeth Street. Bars, restaurants and UTAS student housing are bringing new life to the street. Our project is one small part of a renewed interest in living, working, eating and drinking in inner Hobart.
The owners, alongside room11, identified the former butchery, with open clear-spanned structure, as a suitable space for the quite considerable equipment required for the brewing of beer. Room11 adapted the existing building fabric with a design, which is appropriately robust, with a tough simple palette of steel, blocks and black paint. At the street frontage tables are set adjacent to the main bar where a redundant refrigeration unit has been re-purposed as a container for firewood.
A service core of bathrooms and utility spaces feature screens of fenestrated block-work, creating a light-play within the interior. Within the wall, cantilevered core filled 20.01 blocks perform the roles of tables and wait expectantly for glasses of beer.
Beyond the core, the shiny stainless steel machinations of brewing are showcased against a gritty block-work frame. The brewing equipment creates a spectacular backdrop for a monumental communal table upon massive stack blond block-work plinth.
The theater of technical brewing equipment and the skillful deployment of simple, honest materials creates a robust interior suitable for the significant demands of hospitality use.
