A Sydney RSL Institution Reimagined Without Losing Its Soul.

After more than 75 years of service to veterans and the Rose Bay community, Club Rose Bay has reopened last December with a bang, following its first major transformation since 1979.

The project was led by Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes, with architecture and interiors by Akin Atelier and styling from the Merivale Design Studio led by Design Director Nasim Koerting. The brief was both clear and loaded with responsibility: honour the club’s legacy, modernise its facilities, and make sure it stays relevant for generations to come.

What’s compelling here is how carefully the design team handled the material language of the building. Timber, brick, and textured glass are used as contemporary reinterpretations of the club’s 1940s architectural fabric — familiar without being nostalgic in a hollow way. The intent, as Akin Atelier Founder Kelvin Ho puts it, was to evoke “warmth and a sense of community,” drawing directly from the spirit of the classic Australian RSL. Ken Oath!

A Subterranean Feast for the Senses: Good Luck Restaurant Lounge in Sydney’s CBD.

The sprawling 200-seat venue is a love letter to 1970s underground dining scenes from New York to Tokyo and Hong Kong, and it’s pretty fabulous.

The hospitality offering unfolds across a series of layered spaces. Notti’s dining room looks out over Rose Bay through cherry-stained timber partitions and amber-tinted hammered glass that throws dappled light across the room. The adjoining Pizza Oven Bar picks up the original façade’s corbelled brickwork, keeping the building’s DNA visible and legible.

Then there’s Mr Pop — arguably the most distinctive move in the project. Conceived as a 1950s airport lounge, it nods to the site’s history as Australia’s first international airport. Plush carpet that folds up the walls, corduroy banquettes, bespoke cherry-wood speakers, and patterned glass lightboxes casting a soft peach glow.

The sports bar stays true to the RSL vernacular: pool tables, leather banquettes, chrome-edged tables on diagonally patterned carpet, and solid timber tables inlaid with mahogany chess boards. Outside, landscaped courtyards include alfresco dining, an Airstream bar, a full-size pickleball court, and a half basketball court — spaces designed for casual encounters and family use.

Perhaps the most quietly meaningful element is the memorabilia hall — a custom-milled timber room with integrated curiosity cabinets housing photographs and artefacts drawn from over a century of Australian service history. Each evening at 6pm, the Ode of Remembrance is read and a minute of silence observed. “There are so many beautiful stories to be told,” says Koerting, “and we feel truly fortunate to have been part of sharing them.”

This is a project that understood its obligations early and didn’t blink.

The Press Is Sydney's New Late-Night Destination for Music and Cocktails Hidden Above Bridge Lane.

Live music is central to the experience, with a resident band performing everything from intimate jazz to high-energy disco sets.

[Images courtesy of Akin Atelier. Styling by Merivale Design Studio. Photography by Anson Smart.]