The Botanical Hotel had a reputation as an iconic food venue, famous for its gastronomic delights and not so much as a watering hole. Under new ownership, the venue has been closed for the past six months whilst a massive renovation has taken place. The emphasis has been to turn The Bot, as it is affectionately know, into more of a real hotel and bar.

The new owner - Colonial Leisure Group - has sought to reinvent and modernise in a way that is both complimentary to the existing building, and its loyal patrons whilst also encouraging a new clientele. The overriding aim has been to create a standout all day dining venue with some serious pub credentials so that the primary focus is a top quality and inventive dining experience within a pub. Melbourne-based company Webb Plus was appointed architect and interior designer for the project.

The previous fit-out had a minimal Scandinavian feel and over time this had become extremely tired. There were problems with internal noise, roof leaks, and a difficult plan with the main rear bar being tucked away and the back cocktail bar almost totally separate.

The boldest design decision was to open up the whole building enabling a clear line of site from the front door through to the rear fireplace and conservatory area.

In terms of finishes and aesthetics the intention was a simple but rich palette of finishes with consistency between areas. Dark timbers are offset by black steel, pressed glass light fittings and pale walls. Warm leather and richer tones create intimacy in the dining room, whilst the conservatory (Archer Room) is lighter and brighter with an outdoor feel. The rear main bar is robust but with strong detail and opens onto a bright terrace area in monochromatic tones. The dark oak floor unifies all areas.

The intention is a timeless piece of design neither funky nor fashionable.

The Domain Road pavement has always been popular for people watching over a coffee and the new facade and alfresco area maximises this attraction. Sliding doors allow an easy connection between the interior and exterior. It’s a large, semi-outdoor casual area in strong and simple finishes with bold artwork. Classic French style floor tiles in a monochromatic finish match the stone tables with classic French Tolix powder-coated chairs. Bold signage references the previous brand.

The Front Cafe/Bar/Wine Store is a casual area for breakfast through to evening cocktails with buttoned leather banquettes, dark oak and stone tables along with a dark oak herringbone floor. A blackened steel bar is monolithic and references traditional French cafes. The wine tasting and retail area is intimate with a powder-coated steel and glass wine display cabinet that focuses the view to the raised rear bar area and screens the retail area fridges for off sale browsing. The existing skylight adds dramatic height and introduces daylight.

The Rear Bar/Lounge is a more serious drinking area with stand up dry bars, a fireplace for winter and an opening onto a narrow terrace. A long bar is clad in Pietro Grigio marble with grey mirror insets and its’ length is emphasised by hanging pressed glass pendants. A splash of Tuscan yellow to the tiles at the back of the bar gives warmth around an illuminated bottle display. The robust heavy steel dry bars have stone tops offset by leather and rich fabric upholstered stools. The terrace is ‘modern classic’ with unglazed monochromatic floor tiles, black French bistro chairs, olive trees and striped cushions to steel benches. The lounge area is more luxurious with iconic wingback chairs and ottomans focused around the fireplace with views to the lush conservatory.

The Conservatory alludes to an outdoor space with a large scale skylight, a lush green planted wall and is flexible for large dinner functions or general casual dining. It has a light and bright feel with solid oak tables, bright and fresh upholstery and classic Tolix chairs. The tables can be joined to seat up to 32 people. It hosts a self contained bar in simply detailed black stone and bold Bisazza mosaic. The nine-metre long planted green wall is offset against dark timber paneling and a green floral patterned banquette (the only real patterned fabric in the whole design). The stone clad fireplace is framed by feature chairs, whilst flooring consists of classic French style floor tiles in a monochromatic finish. Glass and metal pendant lights in soft aqua colours provide a fantastic ambience at night.

Whilst much of the rest of the interior has a certain masculine quality a rich ambience is created in the dining room through the use of warmer tones, plush fabrics and strong artwork. Iconic artichoke lights pay homage to the previous fit-out. A folded metal and timber screen creates an arrival experience and filters views in and out as does a tree graphic glazed window.

Dark stained solid oak tables with bespoke bases are offset by warm chestnut leather and plush
blue-grey fabric. There are subtle lighting effects, and a bold patterned carpet in gold and earthy colours.

The private dining room features a custom-made table seating eighteen that is manufactured from timber from the Botanic Garden opposite, and a semi industrial steel base. This contrasts with a delicate pendant fitting of nickel and handmade ceramic shades that reflect up into the new skylight at night. The side walls of large sliding glass panels have a custom designed graphic of trees that filter the view and provide privacy by means of light and shade. Handmade bronze ‘branch’ handles complete the botanical reference.

The original wine wall display has been dressed in dark Macassar timber to tie it to the new design. Glimpses of vivid orange tiles provide highlights within the kitchen. A chosen artwork is framed by the end window, and is a focus through the whole dining area.

The toilets are understated in black and silver with white marble semi freestanding vanities, polished chrome legs, high gloss black tiles and brushed stainless steel feature tiles. Textured black wall tiles in the gents bathrooms echo this dark ambience and reference the matt and gloss tiles in the toilet entry.

Digital Living designed, supplied and installed the audio visual for the Hotel which is divided into seven audio zones: Main Bar, Front Bar, Dining Room, Private Dining Room, Function Room, Café, and Toilets. Each zone is capable of having its own audio source and volume level regardless of the setting in other zones. Each bar also has I-pod integration and it’s just a matter of plug and play making it user friendly for all staff.

The management has also taken advantage of the fully featured Nightlife HDMS system and has three streams of audio that can be routed to any or all zones. The touch screen till hardware provides an interface to the Nightlife system when content changes are required without the need to go the centrally located amp room. For simplicity the system defaults on startup to pre determined Nightlife streams to set areas that then remain scheduled throughout the day fully automating the venue’s ambiance.

The General Manager of the Botanical, Frederic Blevin, had a very definite vision for their music. Like the harmony between superior wine and a superb meal, the Botanical’s music had to be the perfect partner for the lavish decor and illustrious clientele. Frederic worked with Nightlife Music to develop a three zone system that has distinct musical flavours for each area of the venue.

The exceptionally stocked Wine Store that adjoins the signature dining room features chic French lounge and boutique music to match its strong French design elements. The simple and elegant ambience of the Restaurant is enhanced with a positive, upbeat range of Jazz, combining the finest selection of the greats with more contemporary artists and labels. The Bar and Outside Room is a truly opulent space and the crowd varies throughout the week, influencing the feel of the music. The music here ranges from relaxed, lounge music to cool, edgy, boutique electro. Sundays are special, where funky beats are infused with cultural influences from Latino, to French and Mediterranean sounds.

An Allen & Heath iDr8 processor was chosen because of its vast feature set and flexibility. An import part of the design was to keep it simple and the built in scheduler plus logic set means the audio system does not require the control system for day to day operations. There also isn’t a need to add any additional third party speaker protection components.

RTI K4 touch screens provide the user interface to some of the more advanced set up features of the system, by the way of multi-level user access, the management can control the staff accessibility. Anyone can walk up to the screens in the morning to press one button to turn the entire system on ready for normal (pre-programmed) operation then only with the correct pin code can sources or content be changed throughout the day. This was a very import part of the client brief to keep a consistent ambience throughout the venue. Connecting the RTI control system to the CBUS lighting allows the lighting scenes to be incorporated into the same startup preset.

The Private Dining Room and Function Room audio visual experience can be controlled by an Ipad, separating venue wide control and providing a fresh clean (and controlled) look to the customer. The Ipad gives the user the ability to not only control features such as Foxtel, TV, USB input, Laptop and DVD but also lighting and volume control. The waiter call facility incorporated into the status bar of the Ipad gives the customer the confidence of calling the staff into the room with minimal disruption to their function.

Video displays were not a big part of the original client requirements with concern that they may overpower the architecture and interior design. Here Digital Living designed a simple and robust system of RJ45 connectors with multiple points throughout the venue allowing management to position the AV trolley from the function room and use it as a display for TV/Foxtel for annual sporting events etc. Only two permanent 50” displays are installed with three additional points for the mobile trolley; a video matrix switch is then used to allow the staff to send their choice of Foxtel, TV, DVD, and Nightlife video to any or all of the screens in high quality component video.  The LEAF component video matrix is also connected to the RTI control system allowing the screens to be incorporated in the venue preset programming and automated startup procedure.

Speaker selection and placement presented the biggest challenge in the Botanical due to the varying ceiling heights and room layouts. Martin Audio provide a diverse product line up with a wide range of ceiling speakers delivering fantastic range and diversity throughout the 8” , 6” and 4” models deployed. When it came to the Main Bar with virtually no wall space, limited ceiling area (due to skylights) varying levels of (low) ceiling heights the Martin Omniline series of line array speakers were chosen. The Omniline speakers give the versatility of being able to fully customize the vertical dispersion while still supplying the very generous 120 degrees horizontal dispersion required to keep the number of installed speakers down to only two.

A pair of Martin AQ8 speakers provide a clear full range sound to the Function Room without the need to use additional subwoofers. The speaker selection and location was carefully chosen to minimize the bass frequencies penetrating too far into neighbouring properties.

The entire system output levels are monitored and scheduled independently of the user level control: the Allen & Heath processor automatically decreases the output over a period of 15 minutes at the end of the night at intervals of 2dB slowly so not to be noticed by the patrons, right down to a safe level as not to disturb the neighbours outside of the agreed times.

All speakers are powered from low impedance QSC amplifiers and all signal processing is done by the Allen & Heath IDr8. All equipment has been centrally located in two 45ru racks with a PS Audio power conditioner and 6000KVa UPS system.