Armory Wharf Café by lahznimmo architects

Adaptive reuse usually starts with an existing building, and ends with an exterior facelift, or a complete interior redesign, or both. But what if the start point is but a burnedout shell of a building? The result, as here, is less “reuse” and more “resurrection”. Building 13 had already undergone adaptive reuse in 2007 – and proved instantly popular with the cyclists and walkers frequenting the riverside park. So when the café was completely destroyed by fire that November, the need for a replacement became instantly apparent.

 Rising from the ashes like the mythical phoenix of lore, the new Armory Wharf Café has brought muchneeded life back to Blaxland Riverside Park: a much-needed place for the flocks of visitors to gather, feed, and take in the views.

 The Armory Wharf faces across the Parramatta River to the ubiquitous estuarine mangroves and a postindustrial working wharf landscape. The dining outlook follows this natural aspect, focusing towards the river and the various activities playing out along the riverfront. And in the background, the interwoven mangroves provide spatial inspiration for the café’s interior space, which is structured by varying degrees of openness and enclosure. Some weathered steel and recycled timber blades survived the 2007 fire and were taken inside the building, to set a pattern of solid and void along the southern elevation. However, the ultimate nod to times long past and roles long finished must be in the preservation of existing inset railway tracks, once used for carrying armaments, and now encased in epoxy resin. These, at least, will not be resurrected.

 In the absence of an existing structure from which to extract a material palette, lahznimmo architects instead borrowed inspiration from the surrounding landscape and built environment, including the café’s neighbour to the east: a camouflage covered shade structure designed by Lacoste + Stevenson. The result is a new but contextually harmonious layer of urban elements, in weathered steel, recycled timber, and mill finish aluminium. As for form, the new structure matches the old building footprint, ensuring continuity of the wharf scale, and functional necessities like the kitchen exhaust and gas flues are encased in a chimney structure that references the silhouettes of existing post-industrial cranes.

But the built environment is of course only part of the picture, and the most important inspiration is the natural environment. With this in mind, the kitchen uses LPG for cooking and has instantaneous gas hot water, which is only heated as needed. Ceiling fans and cross ventilation provide air circulation and temperature control in the dining room, and all roof rainwater is recycled into an existing runnel, and used for water features and a frog corridor. (This part of Sydney is particularly famous for its unique and increasingly endangered frog population.)

 Like the fiery destruction of its prior incarnation, the process of resurrecting the Armory Wharf Café was remarkably rapid, once set into motion. The brief required an entire design and construction process of only 7 months, and under a fast-tracked Design and Construct relationship – between the client, the building contractor and the design team – construction was all done and dusted within 42 days. A miraculous rise from the ashes. +

PHOTOGRAPHY Brett Boardman

1. Thanks to its waterfront position, the café enjoys unobstructed views across the river to the mangroves beyond. 2. The park is home to many outdoor activities, which serve as a sort of passing reality theatre for the patrons of the restaurant. 3. Lacoste + Stevenson’s camouflage shade canopy creates a comfortable area for al fresco dining, while also adding visual intrigue in both form and shadow. 4. The Armory Wharf Café is a place for casual dining, where walkers, cyclists, and those at leisure can gather for a meal and to enjoy the idyllic views. 5. Rich, rustic materials like weathered steel, recycled timber, and mill finished aluminium pervade the design.