Jones the Grocer arrived on the Sydney food scene in 1996. Since then, Landini Associates have helped expand and evolve its offer overseas. To mark the next step in the Jones journey, their task was to reintroduce the brand to its hometown audience by way of a flagship store in the glamorous CBD Westfield.
It’s still a grocer but has transformed to become a multifaceted creator of meals. It produces casual yet polished eats, from eating in or take away, a baker and patisserie, as well as a tea expert, cafe, licensed restaurant with private dining room and open kitchen, cooking school and tapas bar. Achieving all this diversity of service in one 490 m2 location was a tricky balance.
The architects placed the open bakery and patisserie at the front to provide an active interface with the Westfield guests, whilst also serving to buffer the dining areas from the shopping centre. They then created multiple areas internally, each entertained and protected by food production activities such as the open kitchen, tapas bar and shop. This allows the whole to be viewed from the center but also to be separate enough to define its own personality.
At the very outset Landini Associates recognized how important the lighting would be both as a foil to the centre but also to create the dining experience that Jones needed to succeed throughout the day and into the night. The architects therefore determined to light the space with a warmth that sits at odds with its new home. This they achieved largely by lighting a stone feature wall that looks onto Pitt Street and exclusively lighting the activity and product, rather than the space. This was supplemented by new low energy efficient fittings and LED’s, which both up and down-light the product and rear wall of the space.
Landini Associate's overall ambition was to create a celebration of real people coming together to cook, eat and be social. Jones gets that and that’s what makes it special.
“This is like no other grocer…the space is seductively stripped back and urbane, making delicious use of the original stone walls of the city's architecture.” - Ecochamber
“The evolution of one of Sydney's famed grocery stores into a global phenomenon has seen diversification that reaches across their store design as well as services.” - INDESIGN MAGAZINE
AWARDS
2014 World Interior News Awards
Longlisted for Best Restaurant
2014 Retail Design Institute of Australia
1st Place Hospitality Design
2014 International Interior Design Association Global Excellence Awards
1st Place, Hospitality
2013 World Interior News Award
Shortlisted Lighting Design
2013 Inside World Architecture Festival
Shortlisted Best Bars and Restaurants
2013 Eat, Drink, Design Awards
Shortlisted for Best Restaurant Design
SUSTAINABILITY
Jones the Grocer acquired their Sydney site from a restaurant that previously occupied the location along with all its equipment, fittings and lighting. They were then challenged to make use of as much of what existed as possible without this having a detrimental visual impact on the desire to create a fresh looking offer for the brand of their clients. This produced multiple design and planning challenges over and above those that one would normally face when starting with a clean sheet. However ultimately some 80% of the kitchen and bakery equipment was repurposed along with, refrigeration, cold rooms, air-conditioning, extract and other ancillary items.
Equipment, furniture and other elements not required for this location were then catalogued and are now being reused in other locations that the Senselle group own.
Lighting:
Much of the lighting was repurposed and then supplemented by new low energy efficient fittings and LED’s which both up and down-light the product and rear wall of the space. Additionally much less energy than in the previous scheme is used by minimising the lighting and using shadow to great effect.
Costs and transport:
Although this approach was a contributing factor to increasing the overall construction time shipping and transport costs were minimised as was the overall cost per square meter of the project, which was reduced from the norm by some 40%.
