Screen Package For Fine Dining Restaurant

We’re proud to have delivered the plant screen package for Yiaga with Hunter Mason, located within the heritage grounds of Fitzroy Gardens. Set within one of Melbourne’s most iconic garden landscapes, the project called for a screening solution that could do more than simply conceal building services.

It needed to feel considered, refined, and respectful of its surroundings. For our team, this was a great opportunity to contribute to a project where a practical architectural element became part of the overall experience of the building.

Modern Dining Rooted in Nature

Led by acclaimed chef Hugh Allen, Yiaga brings a refined approach to modern Australian dining through an evolving degustation experience centred around native ingredients, seasonal produce, and local craftsmanship.

Designed by Wardle Studio, the restaurant transforms the former Pavilion Café site into a warm and immersive architectural space that feels deeply connected to the surrounding gardens. The design blends into Fitzroy Gardens by using materiality, light, and texture to create a calm and grounded dining environment.

Functional Screens With Architectural Purpose

Our scope involved the supply and installation of 40+ custom perforated screens mounted onto our engineered aluminium framing. While the screens serve a practical function for the plant rooms, they were also designed to behave much like the trees surrounding the building. Rather than treating the plant screens as purely functional covers, the design gives them an architectural role, helping soften the appearance of the building services while adding depth, rhythm, and texture to the façade.

Designed to Filter Light

As sunlight moves throughout the day, the perforations allow light to filter through differently at every hour, casting constantly shifting shadow patterns across the surfaces below. In many ways, the screens perform like a tree canopy itself, softening light, creating movement, and helping the building dissolve more naturally into the landscape of Fitzroy Gardens. This interaction between light and perforation gives the screens a sense of life, changing with the time of day, the angle of the sun, and the surrounding conditions.

Where Engineering Meets Human-Centre Design

Projects like Yiaga are a great example of how strong collaboration can bridge technical engineering with thoughtful, human-centred design. We’re proud to have contributed to a project where engineering, architecture and nature come together so seamlessly.

It is a reminder that even highly functional building elements can become meaningful design features when they are approached with care, coordination, and a strong understanding of the project vision.