Eat Drink Design Awards 2022 winners announced.
The Awards celebrate Australia and New Zealand’s best hospitality projects, rewarding design achievement in seven categories. Entries make the awards a unique opportunity for architects, designers and their clients to present their best new projects.
Endorsed by the Australian Institute of Architects and the Design Institute of Australia, this year’s jury includes Shannon Bennett (chef and restaurateur), Rodney Eggleston (director of March Studio), Melissa Leong (Masterchef judge and food writer), Fiona Lynch (founder of Fiona Lynch Office) and Cassie Hansen (editor of Artichoke).
Cassie Hansen, editor of Artichoke and Eat Drink Design Awards jury chair, explained that the Awards are a prism through which we can analyze the influences and shifting design narratives in the always evolving, and competitive, hospitality industry.
“The design community seems to be embracing a trend towards nostalgia and familiarity in uncertain, troubling times – ones that are given form, thankfully, in an original and innovative way that avoids simple mimicry,” the jury said.
“In more general aesthetic terms, it seems apparent that the design community has further interpreted the collective mood by moving beyond a technique of layering up complexity in spaces. More singular, strong ideas for each venue and project seem to be a thing this year - given form and materiality in a pared-back way.”
Best Bar Design was taken out by Music Room by Dion Hall. Located on level one of the sprawling HER building in Melbourne, Music Room provides a supreme auditory experience where patrons can enjoy the venue’s curated vinyl collection.
The art-filled Di Stasio Carlton by Hassell received Best Restaurant Design – a playful adaptation of the Di Stasio legacy, befitting of its location in Melbourne’s cool inner-north.
Best Cafe Design was awarded to The Common by Sullivan Skinner, located alongside the outer glazing line of Brisbane’s Domestic Airport terminal.
Flack Studio received the Best Hotel Design Award, for its vibrant and eclectic project Ace Hotel Sydney. The Best Retail Design category delivered two winners – Baker Bleu Hawksburn by IF Architecture and Pronto by Via Porta by Studio Esteta. Best Identity Design was awarded to Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca by Congrats Agency. And CO-AP took out Best Installation Design for its Adelaide Festival Pavilion titled The Summerhouse.
The 2022 entry into the Eat Drink Design Awards Hall of Fame – which recognizes enduring excellence in the design of a hospitality venue – is the much treasured Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar.
A report of the winning design entries has been published in the November issue of Artichoke.
The Eat Drink Design Awards program is organised by Architecture Media, publisher of Artichoke magazine, and supported by principal partner JRF, major partner Blind Corner, and supporting partners Roca, NOROCK and Latitude.