When the museum’s best artefact is the building itself.
Atop the nutrient-rich soil in Tasmania’s isolated Huon Valley sits a large, rustic barn. In 1942, it was an apple packing shack. In 1980, it was an apple museum, celebrating the region’s produce. And now, The Apple Shed is part cellar door, part museum, and part home for fourth-generation organic orchardists and cidermakers, Willie Smith's.
Willie Smith's ran into scepticism when they shared their idea to convert the rather rundown, unloved and cluttered shed into a cider cellar door. But we knew if it was handled sensitively, the building itself could be the museum’s top artefact. The tourist destination and community social hub proudly celebrates the region’s history while delighting those who just discover the region today.
CLIENT
Willie Smith's
IMAGES
Jonathan Wherrett
LAND OF
South Eastern Tribe
COLLABORATORS
Aldanmark
Castellan Consulting
Futago
Glen Barry + Sam Reid
Dan Green
AWARDS
In the project’s first phase, we restored the apple packing shed. To introduce natural light and expose the original volume within the shed frame, we removed internal walls and clutter, and refurbished the original industrial doors.
We then added a new insertion with bar, retail point, kitchen, prep area and office space to fit the functional brief. It made sense to us that the bar was made from materials we had on hand. We built the base from recycled timber, and the top from unbranded cardboard packing boxes. We then carved openings and serving areas from this monolithic form.
Simplicity at its core.
Apple industry.
Through a partnership with graphic designers, we created a museum filled with Huon Valley apple industry memorabilia and pieces of equipment. To separate the museum and cider tasting bar, we built a now well-renowned display of 394 apple varieties. We sourced these apples from the heritage orchard to detail the vast range of colours and varieties, many of which are all but obsolete elsewhere.
We have fond memories of stacking boxes on the night before opening, then downing our tools for a big feast and barbeque with the local tradespeople with whom we'd collaborated on the project. It felt like the right way to commemorate a venture characterised by community and the celebration of regional produce. And a design that balanced materials, brand and context to create a cohesive story.
From the start, we knew we wanted to make this a socially sustainable project, embedded in context. The shed has a high social and cultural value within the community as a store for memorabilia and historic stories related to the valley. To honour Willie Smith’s dedication to organic farming, we recycled and reused whatever we could. This included timber stripped from the building during restoration reimagined as the bar’s timber cladding and timber offcuts for the display casing.
Huon Valley’s apple heritage, established in the 19th and 20th centuries, has only recently been revitalised. Thanks to a resurgence in organic farming and microbrewing, Tasmania has rediscovered its historic apple-growing expertise. We subtly employed the Smith’s family history as an interpretive tool to narrate the booms and busts of the region, placing Willie Smith’s brand in its right historical context, too.
Big apple history.
