Project Report - Saffron Towers

Cityvineyard

7 Hoddle Street. Melbourne

If city dwellers are too busy to visit Australia's hundreds of smaller vineyards, it only takes a little lateral thinking to solve the problem bring the vineyards to the city.

Wine maker Stephen Graham, who runs the Boat o' Craigo wineries in the Yarra Valley, had difficulty finding wholesale distribution, so he decided to take his wine and others straight to the consumer.

“I've tried to create a new agenda to empower customers,” he says. “People can listen to the experts, but in the end they should buy only the wines they like. “City Vineyard gives them the chance to sample a range of styles from a range of producers in a relaxed environment.”

When Stephen had the novel idea of setting up City Vineyard in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, he decided on a two-tier approach to the display, tasting and sale of wines. And from there it only took a little vertical thinking to make the operation as efficient as possible.

Wines up to $20 are set out on the ground floor of 7 Hoddle Street, and those priced at $20-45 are on the mezzanine. And elegantly linking the two levels is an Enfold spiral staircase by enzie Stairs, the vertical solution to the problem of access.

Architect and builder Chris Seidler has specified enzie stairs for other projects. His initial contact was many years ago when he installed in his own home one of the first enzie spiral stairs to be made with a stainless steel handrail. Chris's commercial business, Seidler Projects, was given a relatively open brief to transform what was a shell into an attractive space for sampling wine.

“The cellar door look with dark timbers and so on was a fairly obvious way to go,” Chris says. “But we created a functional space with great ambience, which meant designing everything from the layout to the bottle set-up. I'm impressed by the form and symmetry of the enzie

The enzie spiral stair system has natural safety elements built in. The handrail is continuous from top to bottom, the central column acts as another handhold, and a person cannot fall far because of the curvature. Safety is a big issue with stairs especially in buildings frequented by the public, and even more so for people sampling the vintages on offer at City Vineyard. Stephen Graham says City Vineyard is as much a tourism and hospitality venture as it is a retail wine business. “We get lots of groups, especially from city hotels, and all kinds of clubs and associations use the place to meet and greet before heading off for a meal.”

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