Drift House by Multiplicity
Winner Best Hotel Design Designer Multiplicity Location Port Fairy, Victoria
Jury comment —
A boutique hotel in Victoria’s Port Fairy, Drift House’s design impressed the jurors with its intimacy, its emphasis on pared-down, natural materials and its striking sense of place. Encompassing a double-storey Victorian bluestone house, an adjacent single-storey Edwardian home, and a newly built garden pavilion and reception centre, the project uses reclaimed wood and stone from a local quarry to create a subtle sense of luxury that also reflects the town’s hardscrabble history. Communal spaces are cleverly designed to be adaptable, transforming from dining room to lounge area to event space. These spaces invite a sense of home and comradery that’s rare in any hotel setting, encouraging guests to intermingle or retreat to the secluded privacy of their rooms as they see fit. This was one of the outstanding regional projects the jury saw this year, and the jury hope its marked ambition is a harbinger of things to come from Australia’s smaller communities.
Design statement —
Stage two at Drift House includes another two holiday apartments within an adjacent period home, a front-of-house/reception centre in what was a derelict garage and a purpose-built garden pavilion or salon where guests can gather to eat and drink. The design continues and hones the ethic already established for this small regional hotel. Fundamental to the brief was to work with the clients’ relaxed aesthetic and to ensure that the new work sat comfortably within its garden setting, juxtaposed but not jarring with the heritage buildings. This creates a dialogue or discussion between the past – omni-present and pivotal – and the new. Relaxed, understated interiors emphasize guest pleasure.
Project —
Drift House 96 and 98 Gipps Street Port Fairy, Vic drifthouse.com.au
Design practice —
Multiplicity 337 Brunswick Road Brunswick, Vic multiplicity.com.au
Project team —
Tim O’sullivan, Sioux Clark