INDUSTRY BEANS CASTLEREAGH STREET
2024
Perched above Martin Place underground station, this compact café occupies just 55 square metres, yet engages a vertical volume of over 10 metres. The project is conceived as an exercise in reduction—paring the architecture back to a singular material and spatial gesture.
A continuous lining of backlit, opaque fibreglass wraps the interior, transforming the tenancy into a softly glowing volume. The material dissolves edges and suppresses visual noise, allowing the space to read as larger, taller and more immersive than its physical constraints suggest. The ceiling grid extends this logic, flattening and diffusing the overhead plane while drawing the eye upward into the void.
Programmatically, the plan is highly efficient. Front and back-of-house elements are tightly resolved, with custom-fabricated drip trays and integrated benches designed to house Industry Beans’ signature white powder-coated Modbar system. Equipment is embedded rather than expressed, maintaining the clarity of the spatial reading.
The project embraces its position within a dense urban condition. The glazed frontage frames the movement of the city beyond, while the interior operates as a calm, luminous counterpoint—an interior that is at once infrastructural and atmospheric.
Working within stringent planning and building constraints, the design prioritises precision, restraint and performance. The result is a small but amplified space—less a fit-out, and more a controlled spatial effect.
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CAFE
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BUILT | 2024
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GADIGAL | SYDNEY
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BUILT BY | UNITA
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DAN PRESTON