Matilda Bay Brewing Company came to us with an unusual request: to create a tasting room at the heart of their working brewery. Their vision was a space that felt like the brewers’ own canteen — a place where workers could gather and enjoy the results of their craft.

We began with little more than an empty stretch of factory floor: one wall, no ceiling. From this raw shell, we reimagined the space using the materials already at hand — as though the brewers themselves had built it. Steel and timber, old bricks, cable trays, and industrial heating and lighting all found new life in the design.

An old timber workbench became the bar, its front clad in recycled cool-room panels. Steel drums stood in as tables, while stainless steel piping and cable trays formed an open framework to subtly divide the bar from the factory floor. By concentrating these robust materials within a small area, the bar retained an intimate scale, while still feeling connected to the vastness of the brewery around it. Warm, considered lighting pulled the atmosphere together, softening the industrial edges.

The Brewer’s Canteen was so well received that we were invited back to design its next chapter — The Street Canteen. This addition provided more seating and dining space, with the option to spill outdoors onto a quiet side street in good weather.

While more enclosed than the original, the Street Canteen carried forward the same language of reused materials and industrial finishes. Exposed brickwork became a textured backdrop for vintage-style lighting, creating a glow reminiscent of a naked flame. Casual, welcoming, and relaxed, the Street Canteen comes alive on warm Port Melbourne evenings, when the energy of the brewery flows effortlessly into the street.