Rathbone Wine Group Headquarters, Port Melbourne

The brief called for the centralisation of administration, bottling line facilities and warehousing for the expanding wine dynasty that included Yering Station, Yarrabank, Mount Langi Ghiran and Xanadu. Located in Port Melbourne to facilitate distribution both nationally and internationally, the site directly fronts the Yarra River.

A four-storey office component dominates the front elevation, providing a superb panoramic vista to the ever changing boat traffic along the Yarra. A sculptural façade of horizontal and vertical aluminium clad fins provide sun shading to the double glazed windows. The brief included a café at first floor level to service the local community, punctuated with a three-storey void in the front façade that provides an external balcony to capture the sun and views on offer.

Behind the office component is the bottling line facility. The majority of car parking is provided by the two levels directly above the bottling line. This significant design decision increased building site coverage to 70% whilst still allowing reticulated trucks to circulate through the site for drop off and pick up.

Behind the bottling line is the state of the art warehouse that provides automated racking for up to 14,000 pallets of wine. The temperature controlled space contains storerooms that allow loading of trucks to take place whilst minimising temperature fluctuations. The side elevation fronting Sabre Drive is carefully articulated utilising different materials and different planes to break down the scale of the warehouse wall.