The customers perched at the bar studying their papers could just as well be studying string-theory equations or molecular formulas, such is the scientific vibe to Silo by Joost – a new and environmentally-friendly café in Melbourne’s central business district.
Artist and eco-crusader Joost Bakker is the man behind the design, along with “hospitality identity” (presumably that’s a new euphemism for “the money”) Danny Colls and chef Douglas McMaster, who pooled their creative juices to create a zero-waste venue. For the ecologists among you, the menu is seasonal, there’s lots of locally-sourced organic ingredients used, and best of all, for every 100 litres of waste eaten up by the café’s on-site dehydrator/sterilizer thingy, 10 litres of dry fertilizer poops out of the other end and is delivered back to the farmers for their crops. The circle of life, etc. There are actually no rubbish bins in the whole place, except for a big discussion-point fake one.
Joost started with the waste, and designed the café backwards in order to achieve his goals – which accounts for the functional, clean and mechanical look of Silo. A café with a conscience.
* Silo by Joost is permanently closed.
Photography © Earl Carter
