Less than 6 months after the purchase of the property (and our initial briefing) yesterday saw the official opening / launch party for The Apple Shed – home of Willie Smith’s Cider.

Anyone who saw the original Apple Museum will appreciate the extraordinary transformation of the wooden shed… of course it makes our job a lot easier when we are working with a great building to start with.

We started by removing all of the internal walls and clutter that had built up over the years. In conjunction with Futago and our client, all of the previous memorabilia, pieces of equipment, displays and products were sorted and catalogued. Working with an interpretation story we then determined a simple planning / entry strategy to best reveal the spatial and material qualities of the shed.

The tasting bar / kitchen / store / office present as a freestanding insertion within the space around which the museum & retail functions revolve. It made sense to us that the bar was made from materials we had on hand… so the base became recycled timber and the top, unbranded cardboard packing boxes.

Separating the Museum (at the rear) and the Providore / Tasting bar at the front is a display of 394 Apples sourced from the nearby Heritage Orchard. Again with Futago, we designed this piece to showcase the amazing range of colours and varieties many of which are not commonly available anymore.

Photos are ours with a couple courtesy of Glen Barry & Simon de Sails.