The arrival of the uber-cool espresso bar with its raw recycled fit-out has transformed Middlemiss Street, Lavender Bay, offering a must stop for the thousands of pedestrians and cyclists who pass each morning. Barista and owner Nathan Devlin shares the warehouse, with its century-old concrete walls soaring 10 metres from floor to ceiling, with The Body Mechanic, a specialist bike fit, gait analysis and physio outfit run by a bunch of elite athletes. It’s a stunning location with an edge of notoriety – the recycled shipping container that serves as the coffee and food prep station was one of the vessels used to smuggle 600kg of pseudoephedrine into Australia. Preserving the historical Sydney Harbour Bridge Arch was a key to the adaptive reuse ideology with this project. Minimal instrusion was made into the structure of the original building, and a space where community and coffee enthusiasts can gather was created.