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Client: Club Musgrave Bowls Club
Project Type: Café and Bathroom upgrade
Status: Completed(2025)
Location: Southport, QLD
Builder: Open Projects Group
Photographer: Studio Blackardt
Brief
Club Musgrave engaged Design Intent Studio alongside the Builder, Open Projects Group to undertake a complete design upgrade to its Venue. The aim is to create a modern warm and welcoming club, consiitent across the full venue The café and Bathroom upgrade forms as Stage 1 to the project.
Design Intent
The new café and upgraded bathrooms at Club Musgrave are designed to elevate the guest experience, providing a modern, comfortable, and user-friendly environment that encourages repeat visitation. The café introduces a new revenue stream, attracting members, families, and new patrons across peak and off-peak times. Thoughtful layouts, upgraded fixtures, and efficient spatial planning streamline operations, reduce wait times, and support staff workflow. The contemporary design establishes a refreshed brand image that positions the club competitively within the local hospitality market, while Stage 1 creates a cohesive framework for future upgrades that are cost-effective and visually consistent.
Project Background & Objectives
The key objective of Stage 1 is to design and deliver a new café offering that serves as an additional revenue-generating outlet for Club Musgrave. This new café will enhance the club’s food and beverage offering, attract a broader demographic, and improve the overall guest experience. Alongside the café, upgraded bathroom facilities will support increased patronage and contribute to a cohesive modern design direction that will carry through future stages of the venue’s full redevelopment.
Design Intent Studio provided full documentation across all stages, from initial design brief through to final construction drawings.
Scope of Works
New Café Design & Delivery
- Create a new café concept that aligns with the club’s vision for a fresh, modern, and inviting outlet.
- Develop an efficient layout that supports both dine-in and takeaway service, improving speed and workflow.
- Design all joinery, service counters, POS areas, and back-of-house components to optimise operations.
- Provide full finishes selections, materials palette, lighting concept, and furniture direction.
- Incorporate a cohesive branding direction that positions the café as a standalone venue offering while still integrating with the club’s broader identity.
- Ensure the design supports future scalability and complements upcoming upgrades throughout the venue.
Bathroom Upgrades
- Redesign and refurbish the male, female, and accessible bathrooms adjacent to the café.
- Upgrade fixtures, fittings, partitions, and finishes to modern, durable, and compliant standards.
- Improve accessibility, lighting, ventilation, and overall user experience.
- Align materials and design elements with the new café to establish a cohesive visual language.
General Project Components
- Prepare detailed design documentation for builder pricing and construction.
- Coordinate with club management and required consultants to ensure operational suitability.
- Ensure all works comply with current building codes, accessibility requirements, and club operational needs.
Design Approach
The design approach will focus on delivering a modern, functional, and commercially effective café that sets the tone for the club’s venue-wide transformation. Key principles include:
- Strategic Positioning: Designing the café as a new standalone offering that broadens the club’s service mix and appeals to both members and new patrons.
- Cohesion: Establishing a material palette and design language that will carry through future stages of the venue upgrade.
- Operational Efficiency: Creating smart layouts, intuitive service flows, and durable finishes suited to high turnover.
- Ambience & Comfort: Crafting a warm, contemporary environment that enhances dwell time and elevates the customer experience.
- Future Integration: Ensuring Stage 1 upgrades seamlessly align with the long-term vision for a fully modernised and unified venue.
Key Design Features & Material Strategy
Acoustic Ceiling Battens
Product: Autex Frontier Acoustic Raft Beam 100 (Pinnacle)
Lightweight acoustic beams suspended from the ceiling to reduce noise and improve overall acoustic comfort within the café. The modern linear profile adds architectural interest while helping to control reverberation in busy dining environments.
Laminate and Joinery
Product: Laminex, Classic Oak #8537, Laminex, Sublime Teak #288,
A warm, natural timber-look board used for joinery elements. The finish brings texture and warmth to the café’s interior, creating a welcoming and contemporary feel. This colour was also selected as the colour to bring through the full Venue.
Solid Surface Benchtop
Product: Corian Solid Surface, Everest
A premium, seamless solid-surface material used for countertops. The Everest colourway provides a crisp, clean stone-like appearance with high durability, stain resistance, and easy maintenance—ideal for hospitality environments.Brass Foot Rail & Hardware
Feature Tile Backbar
Product: Tile Mob: Tea-Green Gloss Hampton Tile
A glossy, handmade-look square tile in a soft tea-green tone, used as a feature behind the back counter. The colour adds freshness and visual interest, while the small tile format brings texture and craft to the spaceLED lit Backbar Shelving with Bronze Mirror
Feature Wallpaper
Product: Baresque: Loma Wallpaper – Ivory (#ABS03-080)
A textured wallcovering in a warm ivory hue, adding subtle pattern and softness to the interior.
Lighting
Product: Lighterior: Gaston wall and Pnedant Lights (Mint Green)
The Gaston pendant and wall lights feature warm, dimmable LED globes with sleek, minimal silhouettes, adding a modern yet inviting glow that highlights the café counters and feature walls while enhancing the overall contemporary design.
Challenges & Solutions
Budget Constraints
Balancing desired design outcomes with practical cost considerations will be essential, especially as the café and bathrooms set the standard for future venue stages.
Integration With Future Stages
Design decisions made now must anticipate the long-term master plan, requiring clear coordination to ensure seamless alignment as additional areas are upgraded.
Existing Building Limitations
Working within an older structure may present constraints related to layout, services capacity, compliance, and required upgrades, which may impact design flexibility or cost.
Additional Notes
Design documentation included full drawing sets, FF&E schedules, and coordination with consultants as defined in the agreed scope. Intellectual property retained by Design Intent Studio.
