The Devonport Surf Life Saving Club is open again after having undergone a makeover by Jaws Architects.
Designed as a sculptural structure to be viewed from all angles, the new building consists of two pavilions sharing a central foyer space. One pavilion contains the surf club, the other the restaurant and cafe. The building references the surrounding rock formations and waves with an aluminium skin that wraps around each pavilion, rising and falling to modulate the interior spaces. While emulating the surrounding landscape, the surf club also makes a bold statement that assists in the marketing and promotional activities of the club.
Within the Devonport Surf Life Saving Club redevelopment is the Drift Cafe, also designed by Jaws Architects. The aim of this project was to create an enticing space offering a casual, fun dining experience to showcase seasonal local produce. Jaws uses a stripped-back aesthetic of polished concrete floors, exposed ducts, radiant ceiling heaters and bay lights with a playful overlay of plywood, rusted steel screens, timber seating and fabric panels. Zones are created with materials and furnishings and with a non-linear movement sequence in plan from the entry, past the bar to the restaurant space. Many geometries and materials from the main building are reinterpreted in the cafe and light is let in through vertical openings in the aluminium skin. A glazed frontage connects to a covered external terrace and semi-enclosed courtyard.
The Devonport Surf Life Saving Club is the first project under the Urban Design Framework for the Mersey Bluff. The Bluff is a prominent local natural feature.
