The Staron® Design Award winner for the Commercial Category is Maria Gavriel and Al Brennan of NOSUCHSTUDIOcollective. Maria and Al have been awarded for their work on Gallery Café at Westfield, Chermside in Queensland.

When this project was in the design stage, the client had multiple issues with the existing café space including a lack of branding, ambience and visibility (being located in a busy mall).

To address these issues, NSSc designed new sculptural perimeter signage directly inspired by the brand's existing logo made entirely from Staron® Solid Surfaces in Bright White, which dually doubles as a defined boundary to the space. The logo was created into a three dimensional sculptural form spelling out the 'gallery' part of 'Gallery Cafe' and created a 'drop letter' effect to the 'g' and 'y', as has been done in the company logo.

Each letter is sculpted completely from thermoformed Staron®, individually fixed into a Staron® base which curves to follow and define the line of the licensed seating area. Below the Staron® base a detail of a 100mm high clear perspex is featured, where the descenders of the 'g' and 'y' penetrate and hang suspended from above as though they have dropped through the Staron® base that they rest upon.

To increase visibility from a distance NSSc included dual groupings of light beacons, also in Staron®, that are located along the design with a translucent perspex top and integrated lighting to capture the attention of shoppers from the cross mall and from long distance sight lines. Two LCD monitor displays at either end of the design are also located within a Staron® box and frame to ensure seamless visual integration.

“Staron® was chosen as the ideal material for this project as it allowed us a flexibility to create something sculptural and eye catching that was in keeping with the client's original brief from Westfield to maintain a 'lightweight elegance' to the additions; whilst providing the strength and durability required to withstand such a high traffic and damage prone area. Additionally Staron® also allowed us the ability to run services throughout the design discreetly without detracting from the overall aesthetic”, Maria says.

The professional Staron® fabrication skills of Smart Marine Services brought this stunning design to life.

Congratulations to NOSUCHSTUDIOcollective for this outstanding design.