Ten Minutes by Tractor is defined by place. Three vineyards, only ten minutes by tractor apart in space and time, are separated by aspect and altitude, by slope and soil, and by the winds which flow through the valleys running south into Bass Strait.
Project Name: Ten Minutes
Studio Name: Cox Architecture
Project size: 186 m2
Completion date: 2017
Building levels: 1
Location: Main Ridge, Mornington Peninsula, Australia
Photography: Shannon Mcgrath
The vineyard in the Mornington Peninsular required a refreshed restaurant, with one very tight constraint; they could only close for 4 weeks to complete full renovations of the interiors. As so often in architecture, constraints led to clever and creative solutions, including the prefabrication of elements in offsite workshops.
Cox Architecture looked to the unique intersections of the natural landscape to inform the interior direction. The restaurant reflects the surrounding vineyards through a natural palette, both in colour and textures. Stone, marble, and brass speak to the quality and luxury of the winery’s history, and soft greens and greys blur the delineation between often moody skies and rolling hills of the valley outside.
The first phase of a larger project including a cellar door and further restaurant extensions, the refreshed interior features both intimate and open dining, enhancing the venue’s versatility. The more private dining areas and bar are softly lit, separated by grille-like brass screens that evoke the winery’s tractor motif. The result celebrates the experience of journey, arrival, approach and destination to curate a fine dining experience rich in the artefacts of wine making and terroir.
