The National Hotel | Breathe architecture

The Victorian era National Hotel found itself in a new century, in the Chinese quarter of Victoria Street, disconnected from the community it is now apart of. The National has been re-imagined to respond to its present context – in which 21st century China has shaken its image of a quaint, exotic and mysterious land. Presenting instead a more menacing and vast manufacturing and economic power. Calling for an architecture of utilitarian sensibility: everything is robust and unpretentious, everything serves a purpose. A rich and textural palette of recycled materials replaces the typical use of tiling, carpet, chrome, aluminium and plasterboard. The few painted surfaces employ zero VOC paint, manufactured locally from recycled engine oil. The Victorian shell was stripped of 100 years of renovations, down to its bones and internal workings. The space was then divided into ‘provinces’ and governed by one central commanding body - the bar. Monumental, the bar forms a wall stretching the length of the building from the inside to out, enabling staff behind to easily survey and serve patrons in any of the 5 ‘provinces’. Each with it’s own vernacular, unified yet different. The café (the outward looking – the explorer) The booth seating (the developed and populated) The opium den (the reclusive) The dining room (combined cultural histories) The courtyard (the forbidden city) Recycled timber and tarpaulin cushions form large seating clusters around concrete and steel tables. Steel cages overrun by vines separate the booths from each other. Recycled fence palings cut to form timber tiles reminiscent of the exposed lath and plaster ceilings above, hold recycled polyester acoustic batts and provide acoustic attenuation for intimate discussions. The decked courtyard is enclosed by tall, recycled brick walls from which a repurposed army tent has been stretched out taut to shade perimeter banquette seating clad with old stair timbers. Exterior partition walls of mismatched concrete blocks laid on their side in a hit and miss pattern, provide separation, connection, texture and shadow play. Compact fluorescent lamps in amber glass bottles hang from catenary wires across the courtyard, abstracting Chinese lantern strings. A 2.5kW solar panel array and a solar hot water system complements the low energy output of the National. With climate management left to occupant sensibility, air-conditioning is non-existent. Forming an unpretentious layer to the bagged recycled brick backdrop of the walled courtyard, 9000L of rainwater is collected in black recycled caged tanks, plumbed to the toilets. A concealed services platform locates of refrigeration equipment remotely to reduce internal heat loading, while also housing kitchen plants and a worm farm. The National Hotel is now the new republic for the people of Richmond. A place for people to come together in their own community – where the architecture, like the staff, is proud to serve.