Highroad / Foolscap Studio

Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, Kitchen, Table, ChairHighroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, TableHighroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, Kitchen, Table, ChairHighroad / Foolscap Studio - Image 5 of 27Highroad / Foolscap Studio - More Images+ 22

  • Architects: Foolscap Studio
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  230
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2017
  • Photographs
    Photographs:Tom Ferguson
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  Brook James, Fenster & Panel, Hugh McCarthy, Linburn Handmade
Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, Table, Windows
© Tom Ferguson

Text description provided by the architects. Foolscap Studio was tasked with creating a space that Canberra’s inner-north would value as a genuinely unique hospitality experience – a place to call their own, without journeying into town. The team behind ONA Coffee and The Cupping Room developed a brief that strongly resonated with their own offerings’ principles: confident and specialist delivery of quality products, happy experimentation delivered with flair, remaining approachable and humble. The space warmly and easily transitions from day into night, encouraging guests to linger and treat Highroad as a home away from home.

Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, Kitchen, Table, Chair
© Tom Ferguson
Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Image 25 of 27
Plan
Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, Kitchen, Table, Countertop, Chair
© Tom Ferguson

The site had been occupied by successive hospitality venues, and while the brief required removal of key identifiers of previous tenants, we retained a number of existing building features that suited its new aesthetic. The result is a fresh and welcoming environment, with a balanced tension between old and new, and an assured, contemporary Canberran personality. Like the bush surrounding our nation’s capital, raw and natural elements – such as the charred timber communal table – sit happily next to refined period cornicing and stately wood panelling (the old), and custom blue-stained waiter stations finished with powder-coated metal detailing (the new).

Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, Table
© Tom Ferguson

Materiality, furniture and color selections reference the surrounding land- and cityscape, and are rendered in a complimentary juxtaposition of textures. An example is the mirrored forms of the adjacent night and day bars: one comprises sandblasted solid pine; the other, off-form concrete. Poured in-situ, the coffee bar is a strong nod to the Dickson Library just down the road – designed by Enrico Taglietti, an architect whose practice has had a profound impact on Canberra’s brutalist vernacular since the 1960s.

Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Table, Chair
© Tom Ferguson
Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Image 27 of 27
Internal Elevations
Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, Dining room, Table, Windows, Chair
© Tom Ferguson

Using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) provided the opportunity for experimentation. Guided by the topography of the mountains that embrace the city, we formed this hard material into organic booths. The outcome is a sculptural banquette centrepiece that draws patrons in, and welcomes them with a protective hug.

Highroad / Foolscap Studio - Interior Photography, Kitchen, Table, Countertop
© Tom Ferguson

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Project location

Address:Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Highroad / Foolscap Studio" 23 Jan 2019. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/909839/highroad-foolscap-studio> ISSN 0719-8884

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