Breathe Architecture has transformed a vacant warehouse into the new home of the Royal Nut Company, a family business that has been selling wholesale nuts in Melbourne’s Brunswick for more than 30 years.
Breathe Architecture’s approach to the adaptive reuse of the building was to maintain the industrial aspects of the existing architecture, including exposed roof trusses, high-level steel windows, existing brickwork and concrete floors, while creating a functional space for the production, packaging and retail sale of nuts.
Probably most eyecatching of all is the exterior of the building, which has been painted gold to tie in with the “Royal” in “Royal Nut Company”, set off by super-sized graphics in bold black. The gold motif carries inside, set against fresh white interiors accented with timber in the retail and office spaces.
Breathe Architecture considers themselves big fans of the Royal Nut Company: “We’ve watched them change to a sustainable business model reducing their plastic packaging, buying and sourcing home grown local nuts instead of cheaper imported product,” they say. The Royal Nut Company has also been working with local beekeepers for their honey and produce their own nut butters in glass packaging.
“We wanted to make it functional, we wanted to keep it honest and of course, we wanted to make it gold, very gold,” says Breathe.
More on Breathe Architecture