The Capital Brewing Company Airport Taproom (CBC) showcases a local maker and their ethos of reconnection to the landscape. The 290sqm tenancy, located in the centre of the terminal, needed to operate in the round, provide visual permeability, and uplift the adjoining spaces.
Under uplit timber coffered canopies, two pavilions arranged around an activated laneway, create an atmospheric and tactile environment that entices engagement, frames views to the surrounding hills, and encourages a street-like activation to the surrounding airport lounge.
Project Name: CBC Airport Taproom
Studio Name: Craig Tan
Project size: 290 m2
Completion date: 2020
Building levels: 1
Location: Canberra, Australia
Photography: Jaime Diaz-Berrio
Coffered uplit timber ceilings create an atmosphere evocative of a tree canopy. An existing service core wrapped by a skin of grey stained plywood, integrates the office, kitchen pass, and keg store.
An interplay of metal frames and blockwork dwarf walls define a loose, feathered perimeter around a bar and stained plywood wrapped core. Spotted gum lined nooks carved into the core, provide intimate hidey holes, contrasting the more urban perching
Conveying a connection with nature, touchpoints such as the interwoven chevron brick slips on the bar upstand, cobble pavers to the perching zones, patinated brass canopies and planters entice people to linger within the space.
The adaptive re-use of the existing steel canopy structure and the use of water-based stains and clear-seals to the plywood and timber canopy respectively reinforce sustainable principles underlying the CBC ethos of respecting the natural environment.
The layered and atmospheric environment of the taproom provides a memorable place of respite within the rushed transit experience of the airport terminal.
