“We’re subcultural, we’re creative, we’re emergent in creative industries, but we also know how to party,” says Fini. Equally important is diversity: something he hopes will be reflected in the Lawsons Flats membership. While talking about the project, Fini frequently references community and collaboration: two key foundations of any successful club. In short, Luis’ has a foot in both the health and hedonism camps, just like Lawsons Flat as a whole. “You can drop by in the morning and have some quiche or a slice of tart for a working breakfast, then come back later in the day and have some charcuterie and a glass of wine.” “Luis’ will be a place that guests can use on different levels,” says Bentley. Plant-based eating will be a key part of the offering. Named Luis’ after the long-standing French dining room Luis’ Restaurant Classique that used to trade on the apartments’ ground floor – now home to Balthazar – the in-house kitchen will serve an all-day menu of home-style dishes: think breakfast items such as banana bread with whipped ricotta and house-baked goods, as well as high-end ploughman’s boards, thoughtfully composed salads and daily specials. Speaking of wining and dining, Paul Bentley (Casa, Si Paradiso) has signed on as Lawson Flats’ consulting chef. One of the meeting rooms morphs into a karaoke space after dark and as the working day loses its momentum, said cafe slips into wine bar mode. A library filled with natural light, restored furniture pieces and interesting things to read is on-hand for R&R. Not that it’s all work and no play, of course. Meeting rooms, working spaces and an in-house cafe are on-hand for digital nomads. Members will be able to work out at two different gym spaces before enjoying a post-workout sauna in the basement. The makeover retains the building’s (many) historic flourishes – the parquetry flooring in the library, say, or the phone room where members will be able to take phone calls in private – but updates the spaces for generation now. Since March, Fini Group, alongside architect Patrick Miller of Finespun Architecture and interior designer Jen Lowe of Ohlo Studio, have been transforming the apartment’s first three floors into their shared vision of a contemporary members’ social club. The hallways are lined with green carpet. Patrick Little of CBD record store Shari-Vari Records will curate the record collection in the music room. But whereas State Buildings is underpinned by its polish and understated grandeur, Lawson Flats will be a more unbuttoned prospect: its art program will be anything but classical. In 2015, team Fini introduced Perth to State Buildings, the four-year, $110 million project that transformed some of the city’s oldest buildings into a lively food, drink and culture precinct. Fini and the rest of Fini Group have form when it comes to bringing people (and a project) together.
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