Mjolner Restaurant, Melbourne Bar, Victoria, Australian Commercial Interior Design, Architecture Images

Mjolner Restaurant in Melbourne, Victoria

3 July 2023

Design: Studio Y

Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Photos: Studio Y

Mjolner Restaurant, Australia

Mjolner is drinking and dining like a Viking. Split between two floors, upstairs is a nod to Nordic design of bleached timber, light concrete render and grey toned upholsterers where downstairs plays homage to the festive after the feast in a darker, warmer space much like cellar.

What was the brief?
Studio Y. was approached by Speakeasy Group to design a Viking inspired bar in the heart of Melbourne. Whilst recognizing their already well known and established Sydney Viking bar of the same name, Mjolner Melbourne had to express its own personality and bring to life the brand in a new way.

What were the key challenges?
Presented with a challenging site, the space was split between two floors with the entry landing on a mezzanine.

What were the solutions?
It was evident that the functionality of the space should work around this so the restaurant was placed upstairs where the bar was placed downstairs. This sparked an idea to design the spaces based around two large elements of Viking culture – feasting and drinking. Entering through an inconspicuous large hand-carved timber door, past a Viking ship bow overhead; one is presented with the option of heading upward to the feasting room or downward in the drinking hall.

The restaurant experience focuses on a more contemporary Nordic aesthetic – bleached timber finishes, light concrete render, natural leathers and exposed bricks with light paint accents. The space makes feasting after the battle the hero. Defined by a floor to ceiling chain curtain imprinted with an Odin motif and an oversized cured meat cutting zone, it is immersive in museum grade fighting artifacts including a $20,000 sword, and is finitely detailed in hues to complement the food.

Downstairs plays homage to the festive after the feast in a moody, darker, warmer space much like a cellar. Bar walls are clad in scale-pattern pressed metal panels whereas bespoke raw steel bi-fold doors provide spatial separation. The booth seating here takes inspiration of the more intimate spaces of Viking life with luxurious upholsteries and high pile throws of highland sheep hides imported directly from Iceland.

In respect to the original building envelope, blacked-out windows were re-interpreted as shelving and new cage displays, columns and faux-beams tie the new into the old, becoming focal points of the spaces. By subtly creating zones within the venue and flexible partitioning there is the ability for private events as well as public use. As a final nod to traditional Viking decoration, many of the furniture items and feature panels have been painstakingly hand carved by the appointed shop fitter Ross Grant from M2O – something rarely seen and truly special about the space.

Mjolner surpasses the realm of just a ‘bar’ and enters something closer to a museum with many of the artifacts displayed being museum grade historical pieces. As such all of the cabinetry was to be designed with locking systems to fit the preeminence of the pieces on show.