Joost Bakker’s Greenhouse is back. Annie Reid takes a look around.
March 8th, 2012
The Melbourne Greenhouse by Joost is the eco-entrepreneur’s second ’living, breathing and waste-free’ restaurant in the city, this time a three-high shipping container block fronted by his pot plant vertical garden and upstairs roof top bar.
It’s the highlight of the annual Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, and sitting alongside the Yarra River on Queensbridge Square is attracting a heady foodie and design crowd, snapping pictures or sampling the organic fare by head chef, Matt Stone.
“Our message is that everything matters. Everything is related to something else, which is ultimately reflected in the choices we make,” Bakker says.
Everything in the Greenhouse is completely waste free from the ground up. It’s not reliant on mains water or power, but rather each element from the urban food to the furniture and building materials have their own recycled story to create a rich case for others to follow.
“People are a lot more critical this time around,” he says. “People are questioning everything and there’s a lot more interest.”
For example, the café floor is made from old conveyor belts. Pure beeswax candles provide light. Straw bales from local farms fill the wall and ceiling cavities. Rooftop garden bins flourish with herbs and planters, while the leather seats are made from off-cuts from a local tannery.
According to Bakker, best of all is what has Melbourne talking – the toilets. On the middle level, he is not only trialling the world’s first waterless female urinal, but also taking the urine to Daylesford as fertiliser, where it will be used to grow the oil for next year’s Greenhouse.
“Urine has so much value to it. The best part is we don’t need to refine it, it is just as nature made it!” Bakker laughs.
Keeping costs low and using unskilled labour, it took three weeks to build the Greenhouse, with partner Arup providing engineering and energy efficiency assessment services.
With a Greenhouse on the horizon for Brisbane and East London, Bakker has plenty on his green plate. For local design hunters, he is expanding By Joost, his online furniture, lights and candle products store.
A highlight will be his signature ’Vertical Garden’, which will be soon available for sale online and in selected retailers around Australia.
Joost Bakker
byjoost.com
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Australia’s leading producer of solid-engineered oak flooring has recently launched a new suite of innovative resources to support creativity and ambition in the architecture and design community.
Explore the radical new organisation strategy which accommodates for the hybrid future of work.
JJA / Bespoke Architecture’s second project for Hong Kong hipster coffee shop Elephant Grounds continues the indoor-outdoor and home-inspired approach of the previous locations, while offering a little something extra.
This project by Melbourne architecture practice, Demaine Partnership, began when two dentists, who are also father and son, decided that they needed a new building for their growing dental practice – a building that would reflect the quality of their dentistry and modern equipment, and a building that would serve their business well into the future. We chat with architect, Craig Barkla to discuss his approach to the Beaumaris Dental brief.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
What makes Italian brand Tacchini so magical? Stylecraft with Tacchini shared some of this magic at four intimate events in Sydney and Melbourne… here’s what we experienced.
Once the byword for passé, the arch has returned to favour with force. The cheeky epitome of 70s chic is now championed on a grand scale with both renovations and new builds opting for the arch. Here are 6 outstanding examples.