Red Hot Cod is known in Burleigh Heads for its fish & chips. When the opportunity came to take over the narrow tenancy next door, previously home to a tattoo studio, the ambition was to give the brand a second identity: a place that could switch from fish & chips by day to a bar in the evenings. However the tenancy next door was narrow, enclosed and had very little natural light. Rather than trying to make the space feel brighter or more conventional, we leaned into its depth and saw a cave, perhaps somewhere beneath the surface of the ocean, and built the concept from there. For us, the constraints of the existing tenancy became the starting point for the design.
We stripped away the inherent squareness of the tenancy and introduced an architecture of organic forms. Sculptural boulders, raw timber, tree trunks and timber slabs reshape the space, creating the feeling of moving through a landscape rather than entering a conventional bar.
The deeper you move into the tenancy, the more immersive it becomes. At the rear, a room filled with fish creates a moment of discovery, a playful nod to the world beneath the water and a visual connection back to the Red Hot Cod identity.
Because of the space constraints, flexibility was an important part of the brief.
Along the length of the tenancy, a continuous bench makes the most of the narrow footprint while giving the space flexibility. Tables can come together or separate depending on the size of the group, allowing the room to adapt to everything from casual drinks to long nights with friends. And a large booth anchors the space and doubles as a platform for DJs.
A new frontage was also needed to mark this new chapter for Red Hot Cod, creating a stronger relationship between the existing fish & chips venue and its new nighttime counterpart.
As a Design & Build studio, we approach these projects as one continuous process, from the first idea through to the physical transformation of the space. Here, that meant turning the limitations of a dark, narrow tenancy into the defining character of the project.
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The design draws from Bali, surf culture and the underwater world, but not as a literal theme. Instead, these references became a language of material, form and atmosphere.
We stripped away the inherent squareness of the tenancy and introduced an architecture of organic forms. Sculptural boulders, raw timber, tree trunks and timber slabs reshape the space, creating the feeling of moving through a landscape rather than entering a conventional bar.
The deeper you move into the tenancy, the more immersive it becomes. At the rear, a room filled with fish creates a moment of discovery, a playful nod to the world beneath the water and a visual connection back to the Red Hot Cod identity.
Because of the space constraints, flexibility was an important part of the brief.
Along the length of the tenancy, a continuous bench makes the most of the narrow footprint while giving the space flexibility. Tables can come together or separate depending on the size of the group, allowing the room to adapt to everything from casual drinks to long nights with friends. And a large booth anchors the space and doubles as a platform for DJs.
A new frontage was also needed to mark this new chapter for Red Hot Cod, creating a stronger relationship between the existing fish & chips venue and its new nighttime counterpart.
As a Design & Build studio, we approach these projects as one continuous process, from the first idea through to the physical transformation of the space. Here, that meant turning the limitations of a dark, narrow tenancy into the defining character of the project.
