Skydiver
Type: Commercial Fitout
Location: Collingwoord, Wurundjeri Country
Status: Open
Skydiver is a record store based in Collingwood, Melbourne founded in 2016 by three local DJs. Having established a strong place in the local music community, through regular instore events bringing people together through music, the business had outgrown its original drop drop-in store.
With the aspiration to expand the social offering to combine retail with a more permanent hospitality venue and café - within the limited space of a new 45m2 tenancy - the decision was made to design a retail fit-out that transforms to bar seating at night.
A kit of adaptable joinery was developed to display records during the day, that could be easily closed down in the evening to accommodate additional bar tables and to secure records away.
Warm plywood is used throughout for the adaptable joinery that relies on both hinge mechanism and manual mounting. Hinged lids double as a display surface by day or can be suspended on the back of the display record bins. Listening stations lining the shopfront connect listeners to the busy street. A protective lid covers this at night to double as street-facing bar seating.
The generous height of the space has been used to its advantage to house the extensive storage required by the record store with high-level joinery and behind-bar shelving.
Painting: Mark Bo Chu
Photos: Chip Mooney