Mission to Seafarers Victoria
Drawing - Sketches, digital copy, Stuart Webber, 2005
"26th March 2019
In contribution to the historical account of the Mission to Seafarers, Melbourne.
To whom it may concern,
In 2005, the Mission to Seafarers’ Padre Bevil Lunson assigned an upgrade to the existing bar and gift shop. The brief outlined alignment with health code and liquor licence regulations, rethink of stock display and aesthetic upgrade of white peg-board and fluorescent-lit display-case.
Two students of architecture answered the call and provided pro bono design, building and installation services. Beyond the updated flooring, work surfaces and new hand-wash point their ethos of sustainable design presented a strategy of redressing the existing on a shoe-string; helping minimise trades and protect the heritage substrate.
A new standing-bar was proposed to envelope the display case and re-orient the hall back toward the stage. Punters were directed to the seated-bar for purchases. The chosen palette aimed to anchor the bar below the hall’s half-timbered dado-line utilising the muted tones of recycled materials. Glass bottles set in resin diffusing panels and timbers sourced from throw-outs were dressed and composed to suggest the multiple approaches to a calling of the sea.
This flotsam and jetsam was intended to provide a shifting background that is representative of the many walks of life that support and are supported by the mission.
Two uninstalled elements further accented the design:
-the flying angel logo was to appear hovering within the bar’s archway and also inverted by the dado-line in the bar’s rear mirror (refer attached sketch),
-and the two lampshades, referencing the inverted form of nautical beacons, were to shepherd clientele to the bar (refer attached sketch).
Where are they now?
Derek Stevenson – Turner Townsend Thinc
Stuart Webber – ARM Architecture
The bar was dismantled during the renovation mid 2019 and replace by another bar.These documents provide insight into an early 21st C refurbishment to the interior of the MTSV and Mission club operations in the early 21st Century and provides names and details of both the consideration of the need to: protect heritage components, provide a functional service point, incorporate recycled materials that related to aspects of the sea and environment, the flotsam and jetsam that is found where the sea, and those from the sea meets the land. Also provides an example of early career designs by two practising 21st C Australian architects and designers.
During the renovations in winter 2019, the decision was made to demolish to make space to another more convenient one brought from a cafe, along with new chairs and tables for the club.Digital copy files sent in March 2019 by architect Stuart Webber after a visit to the Mission. Along with two sketches he submitted, he sent a document telling how the bar came to life in 2005.bar, stuart webber, derek stevenson, mts club, mts interior, bevil lunson