Located on George Street in Sydney’s CBD, the Morrison Bar & Oyster Room is a slick new hospitality venue that reinvigorates the site of the former Brooklyn Hotel. With a fitout from the team at Akin Creative, this New York-inspired interior takes design cues from both the old brick building of the Brooklyn as well as the open plaza of the adjacent Grosvenor Place, designed by Harry Seidler in the 1980s.

The project came to the studio following a previous collaboration between Akin Creative’s Jeremy Bull and new Morrison owner Fraser Short. Bull says the design is at once “a lavish play on the building’s industrial heritage and a modern and sophisticated piece of architecture”.

The expansive interior now encompasses a series of different zones that invite patrons to feel at home. A series of park benches and trees recalls the front stoop, allowing visitors to watch passers-by on the busy street outside, while large tables near the kitchen encourage communal dining. High tables and bar stools are clustered near the bar, while vibrant tiled tables and indoor plants add colour and detail to the space.

A tough and industrial material palette inside creates a layered and weathered aesthetic. Timber surfaces on the floors, walls and ceilings are paired with concrete columns, raw steel, exposed brickwork and tiles. The open-air courtyard to the rear of the space involved extensive work, with the new space constructed around the columns of Grosvenor Place. Leather chairs and banquette seating are accompanied by brass detailing, creating a warm and intimate setting with vertical views of Grosvenor Place.

http://www.australiandesignreview.com/interiors/24991-morrison-bar-oyster-room