Manly Wharf Bar by Alexander & Co.
Manly Wharf Bar by Alexander & Co sees a fresh redesign of a warehouse above water, where coastal meets industrial in an eclectic sunlit space.
Words: Georgie Ward | Photography: Anson Smart
Designed by Alexander & Co, The Manly Wharf Bar Project reimagines the popular venue that sits nestled in the Eastern corner of the famous Manly jetty over the past 15 years.
Alexander and Co’s design team decluttered the old iconic Manly tenancy in an effort to de-theme the wharf at large. By redesigning its spaces to launch anew, the renovation project reconstructs the brand’s name and feel.
As a mid-century warehouse above water, the venue feels ‘part urban loft story, part sexy surfer,’ says Alexander & Co. The venue has a freshness, an easy sandy-feet sense, with enough detail and material specialness to ensure the experience avoids ambivalence.
Its freshness lends itself to the large framed windows that allows sunlight to spill throughout the space and reflect off its bright white walls. The white is subtly fractured with moments of colour, seen in its peach coloured Laminex kitchenette, and warm hues of timber furnishings. Its Danish furniture classics with bent chrome, rattan and timber play off against custom timber table tops resting atop pink earth table bases.
The restaurant and bar feature exposed and painted brickwork, glass blocks and textured render, open breeze block with a central glowing cork and brass bar. Broken moments of terrazzo that scatter the vast concrete floor and hints of recycled coloured stone embedded into table tops makes the venue both curious and unexpected, and finds its timelessness in the grain of the many imperfections from its handmade materiality.
Reduction was the corner stone theme of Alexander & Co’s sustainable pillar, as the venue goes on to re-use various harvested masonry elements for its wall material, and reconstitutes masonry waste into bricks, tables and bench surfaces.
The space was designed to be open and commodious, allowing for free movement and flow between the large open kitchen that shows off its exposed wood-fired pizza oven, and the dining areas that overlook the Manly harbour waters.
Alexander & Co resurrected this space with a modern freshness by implementing a pared back, neutral palette of blond, caramel and tan and a mix of coastal and industrial finishes.
“MWB is a worn back, worn away, and reclaimed coastal rumpus room—the venue feels part urban loft story, part sexy surfer—a mid-century warehouse above water, an integration of the Manly CBD with the slightest touch of residential DNA.”
