MDLR worked with the Vineyard Retreat, an established tourism accommodation provider in McClaren Vale to deliver modern cabin accommodation that complements an existing offering of traditional retreat-style cabins. ‘Cadole’ Avalon, named after the French vineyard workers’ shed  is nestled in a vineyard providing a contemporary space both in terms of the fitout and available services.

The site sits on the edge of the vineyard which presented an opportunity to capture a panoramic view of the surroundings. We began with a E50 series Escapod, one of our product offerings and adapted it to the site with an additional side entry portal mirroring a deck on the opposite side.

This creates an entry sequence which takes the guest directly from their car to a sheltered entry before dramatically revealing the vineyard on entering. The view is unobstructed and complemented by secondary view framed by the standard Escapod portal window. We specified commercial grade, full height glass to make the most of these views and to ensure that the large proportion of glazed surfaces in the space was well insulated.

The exterior of the space is clad in stained timber to sit inconspicuously on site, while also highlighting the reveals, clad in clear-stained timber that the wall and floor thicknesses allow. Our partners DAS studio designed the interior fitout, delivering a scheme that has been described ‘a self-contained hotel room’. With 50m2 of living space, one and a half times the standard hotel room, it’s a scaled up version. Services including air conditioning and a laundry and are integrated into the walls with custom joinery. Timber floors reward the experience of meandering barefoot through the space. High grade surfaces are specified at points of touch and feel, such as Dekton engineered stone kitchen benchtops and a bathroom with matching, generously sized floor tiles and splashbacks. We think the full ceiling height and cool colour scheme of the bathroom works well in this project, providing a reprise to the warmer, open living spaces.

Water is completely supplied by rainwater tanks, and the Escapod can also run on solar power for a completely off-grid building, which we hope to deliver in future projects.  

We drew on the client’s experience in the tourism sector throughout the process with regular onsite meetings and correspondence. The turnkey process took 12 weeks from design to delivery.

A 90% occupancy rate of the accommodation put any doubts on viability to rest, and led to a second collaboration with the Vineyard Retreat on Cadole Sierra, another Escapod for the site that draws on provincial French influences for the fitout. We were able to use our existing experience of the site to quickly progress the Sierra’s delivery and are currently fitting out an interior that features a lot more rattan.