Melbourne’s Dan Gayfer Design (DGD) has completed a new type of retail fitout for concrete product manufacturer, Anston Architectural (AA).

AA are a popular supplier of predominantly outdoor bespoke concrete products like pavers, cobbles, pool coping, stair treads, and wall cladding – a difficult collection to portray in an indoor environment effectively.

But DGD was up to the challenge, and its design for AA’s new retail shopfront in Abbotsford, Melbourne creates a series of mock settings for the team to showcase its suite of products to prospects, and for clients to visualise their capability in an in-situ environment.

Anston Architectural’s Abbotsford Showroom design by Dan Gayfer Design

DGD was essentially given a blank canvas to discover how to translate concrete design for exterior usage into interiors in a way that considered all Anston’s possible clientele. Completed in 2016, the result was a showroom that displayed the concrete products in both typical and unexpected applications; exteriors of homes and interiors of designer retail settings.

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The concept of the design was to ensure an interesting way of showcasing different scenarios in which Anston Architectural concrete products could be used

The spaces are arranged in a realistic manner to allow the customer to physically interact with the products where they can wander through each of the mock settings and test the products suitability to their environment.

The booths create realistic settings in which customers can interact with

In a more typical setting for AA’s products, the showroom displays a walk-in outdoor shower ‘booth’ complete with a shower hose, mixer, floor waste and feature garden. All surfaces of the booth have been finished in a 100mm x 100mm AA cobble designed for customers to decide on its suitability. There is also an outdoor dining terrace complete with fireplace, daybed, timber storage and concrete hearth available for customers to test out.

More traditional uses for Anston Concrete placed in outdoor settings

The fireplace is another interesting use of concrete products

Less typical is the displays of the wine/coffee bar complete with Brightonlite bench tops by renowned concreter Kennan Harris, wall tiles and a workstation. In addition to this, a number of furniture pieces were designed from the material, including a set of stools, shelves, and a coffee table made from 40mm thick concrete and steel, placed in various places throughout the showroom. Again, these applications aim to stimulate discussion and creativity, as well as enhance the experience of the showroom.

A diverse palette of other materials was also employed to complement AA’s concrete products. Timber, ‘Antique Gold’-painted tubular steel, and indoor plants, were chosen to counterbalance the minimal and robust characteristics of the concrete, as opposed to nullifying it with repetition of one material.

Diverse materials have been used to balance the concrete products

The American Cherry timber adds warmth and natural character, the tubular steel painted in Porters Paints’ ‘Antique Gold’ defines each setting and warrants seamless transition from one to the next, and the indoor plants and use of upholstered cushions brings further life and movement to the design, ensuring that the concept of AA’s concrete for interior uses are translated successfully into built form.

Rather than having to visualise the suitability of AA’s product, the design of the showroom cleverly allows the customer to physically interact with it inside realistic interior and exterior settings.

PRODUCTS

CONCRETE FEAUTURES
ANSTON ARCHITECTURAL

SHOWER SEAT
SPOTTED GUM TIMBER BATTENS

STEEL
BLUE STEEL FINISHED IN PORTERS PAINTS LIQUID GOLD – ANTIQUE GOLD

CONCRETE COUNTER
KEENAN HARRIS, CONCRETE IN BRIGHTONLITE

TIMBER
AMERICAN CHERRY VENEERED PLYWOOD

UPHOLSTERY
INFORM UPHOLSTERY DESIGN
WARWICK FABRICS (AUSTRALIA)
MOKUM

TRACK LIGHTS
MASSON – COMET GU10 IN BLACK

WALL PLANTER
GLASSHAUS NURSERY – WABI WALL PLANTER

FAÇADE SIGNAGE
DESIGN TO PRINT

GAS FIRE
ESCEA GAS FIREPLACE