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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Highroad in Canberra, Australia by Foolscap StudioMarch 1st, 2019 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: Foolscap Studio Foolscap Studio was tasked with creating a space that Canberra’s inner-north would value as a genuinely unique hospitality experience – a place to call their own, without journeying into town. The team behind ONA Coffee and The Cupping Room developed a brief that strongly resonated with their own offerings’ principles: confident and specialist delivery of quality products, happy experimentation delivered with flair, remaining approachable and humble. The space warmly and easily transitions from day into night, encouraging guests to linger and treat Highroad as a home away from home.  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson
 Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson The site had been occupied by successive hospitality venues, and while the brief required removal of key identifiers of previous tenants, we retained a number of existing building features that suited its new aesthetic. The result is a fresh and welcoming environment, with a balanced tension between old and new, and an assured, contemporary Canberran personality. Like the bush surrounding our nation’s capital, raw and natural elements – like the charred timber communal table – sit happily next to refined details, such as period cornices and stately wood panelling (the old), and custom blue-stained waiter stations finished with powder-coated metal detailing (the new).  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson Materiality, furniture and colour selections reference the surrounding land- and cityscape, and are rendered in a complimentary juxtaposition of textures. An example is the mirrored forms of the adjacent night and day bars: one comprises sandblasted solid pine, the other, off-form concrete. Poured in-situ, the coffee bar is a strong nod to the Dickson Library just down the road, which was designed by Enrico Taglietti, an architect whose practice has had a profound impact on Canberra’s vernacular since the 1960s. Using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) provided the opportunity for experimentation. Guided by the topography of the mountains that embrace the city, we formed this hard material into organic booths. The outcome is a sculptural banquette centrepiece that draws patrons in, and welcomes them with a protective hug.  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Image Courtesy © Tom Ferguson  Plan, Image Courtesy © Foolscap Studio  Elevations-01-02, Image Courtesy © Foolscap Studio  Elevations-03, Image Courtesy © Foolscap Studio
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