Ayrburn by Alexander &CO.
Scotsman William Paterson established Ayrburn Farm on a pristine patch of pasture just outside of Arrowtown on New Zealand’s South Island in the 1860s. Then, he may have found it difficult to envisage that in 150-plus years, the estate’s stone buildings would one day be home to a $200-million high-end food and wine mecca.
The pioneering Scot would no doubt be deeply impressed by both the new-generation Ayrburn and the entrepreneurial spirit of Chris Meehan. CEO of New Zealand developer Winton, Meehan was the driving force behind the transformation of the 12-hectare site from a collection of tumbling-down structures into the reincarnation of Ayrburn.
Set against the dramatic backdrop of Coronet Peak, surrounded by vineyards and with a picture-book stream burbling through its impeccably landscaped grounds, Ayrburn is a bucolic wonderland.
Set against the dramatic backdrop of Coronet Peak, surrounded by vineyards and with a picture-book stream burbling through its impeccably landscaped grounds, Ayrburn is a bucolic wonderland. It comprises five venues – The Woolshed bistro, The Manure Room wine bar, wine-tasting bolthole The Barrel Room, the cocktail-focused Burr Bar and The Dairy ice-creamery, all splayed around central gathering point, The Dell. Fine-diner Billy’s, a bakehouse and a boutique hotel are to come.
To bring his vision to life, Meehan worked with New Zealand architect SA Studio and Sydney-based architecture and interior design practice Alexander &CO. It was a mammoth undertaking; the buildings not only had strict heritage restrictions but were dilapidated. “If you imagine these old agricultural sheds, they had no floor slabs, no tectonic structure, no services,” says Alexander &CO. founder and principal Jeremy Bull. “So, the buildings were inventoried for their parts, substantially taken apart and then rebuilt again.” The Manure Room, for example, has a sagging timber eave, which is actually new steel and timber frames that SA Studio designed to mimic the original sag. “It was beautiful and arduous work and, in essence, a quite complex historic rebuild.”
The five venues are disparate but share a cohesive interior narrative, in which layered and rich materiality creates a perfect counterpoint to the heritage context. That’s beautifully illustrated in the two-storey Woolshed, where the original schist stone walls, refurbished original floorboards, rough beech ceiling linings and a cobbled stone floor meld with moss-green velours, burgundy leather and a central steel-clad fireplace.
There’s a strong artisanal feel throughout the spaces, from an otherworldly mural in The Barrel Room created by Alexander &CO.’s in-house muralist Alexander Drinan and a stunning work by tapestry artist Maryanne Moodie in The Woolshed. In The Manure Room, an out-of-the-box leather curtain forms the backdrop to a sublime ruched silk pendant by Shaun Dudley of Transmitt, and handcrafted furniture by Athol Wright of CDF Studio adds to the bespoke ambience.
For Bull, Ayrburn was an opportunity to weave the site’s story into the design narrative. “The site is replete with history and the old characters who have worked the farm over the years made for great reading [when we were researching],” he says. “Given the buildings also have their own origin stories, it was a pretty rich storytelling process shared between the client, the local architect, the branding agency and our team.
Architecture by Alexander &CO. and SA Studio. Interior design by Alexander &CO. Lighting by Transmitt. Development and landscape architecture by Winton. Branding by 4AM.
