Cool Mac
Kirribilli
ar-chive studio was commissioned to create a mural that could hold the weight of that story while giving the space a fresh visual chapter: one that spoke to both long-term patrons and newcomers without explaining itself.
Cool Mac
Hospitality
Kirribilli, Sydney
Public Art, Civic Placemaking, Architectural Illustration, Art Direction
The Mural
Rather than illustrating the menu or the food, the lens turned outward. A photographic study of the surrounding urban landscape of Kirribilli: the silhouettes of local homes, historic institutions, the distinct architectural rhythm of the neighbourhood.Those photographs were deconstructed and reassembled as geometric abstraction. Not a literal record but a visual shorthand: familiar enough that a regular would recognise their own street in it, resolved enough that a first-time visitor would feel the specificity of place without needing the reference.
The neighbourhood mapped back onto the walls. The café as a mirror of where it lives.
The collage has since become a signature of the Cool Mac experience: a high-energy backdrop for the jazz and hip-hop that fills the room, and a piece of legacy branding that anchors the venue's identity in its specific geographical soul.
KURUMAC →
RISE TO UBIQUITY →
TRUE & LIVIN’ →