Hasta La Ideas

Interior designer Elle Kunnos de Voss of American studio The Metrics has created the interiors for a restaurant in New York that will change every 30 days.

Called What Happens When, the floor, ceiling and all the walls of the interior are painted black, whilst the furniture and light fittings are white.

Architectural drawings and symbols have been painted on the walls and ceiling, and each time the interior changes it will be mapped out on the floor with tape.

A grid of hooks on the ceiling mean the lighting can be constantly reconfigured.

Music and entertainment in the restaurant will also change every 30 days, as well as the food and brand identity.

As a Valentine’s Day installation, pink and purple triangles of fabric were hung from the ceiling.

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Here’s some more information about the project:

What Happens When” / Interior Design by Elle Kunnos de Voss

The overall concept for the space is a ‘work in progress’ transparency into the design process as the architectural drawings are mapped out onto the dining room surfaces in 1:1, with each Movement change red lined to manifest the process and record the transformations.
Within this frame work we will design; a new lighting scheme and fixtures, unique spatial elements to create variations of visual compositions like perspective, scale and form and a new color scheme for every 30 day Movement. To keep the space flexible for the changing light and spatial installations we have designed a grid of hooks for the ceiling.

1st Movement

SPACE / Elle Kunnos de Voss

The spatial concept for the First Movement is a monochromatic landscape of deconstructed volumes and fixtures, using a paired down aesthetic. White lines define volumes within the space, describing archetypal house and ladder shapes in a distorted perspective. The deconstructed chandeliers take their cue from a classic chandelier with cut cardboard prisms and large globe light bulbs.

FOOD / John Fraser

For the debut month Chef Fraser is serving a hearty, Nordic and Northern Germanic influenced menu which includes first courses such as Potato Skins with wheat beer fondue, pickled sausage and sorrel, Oysters with beet mignonette, sunchokes and arugula and Arctic Char with fennel aspic and preserved lemon and second courses such as Cod “Stew” with dill, squid ink and clams and “Hunter’s Plate” comprised of pig parts, bitter greens and bread dumpling.

BRAND / Emilie Baltz

The branding system developed below uses a system of iconography to represent every month of What Happens When. Each month, a new icon will represent the brand, creating a playfully abstract visual language that has potential for multiple meanings. The application of the brand icons will be flexible, translating easily into uses like urban tags that will serve as artistic means of advertising.

SOUND SCAPE / Micah Silver

Sound artist and curator Micah Silver has developed an evolving aural environment throughout the entire space. As with the design and menu, this will radically shift around shared inspirations each month. The January composition is a two hour long work that comes in and out of perceptibility and presence, an evolving landscape within which a meal and conversation can unfold in unique ways. Over the course of two hours the ear is guided through the range of human hearing. Among the source materials or sound ingredients used are “Snow slowly covering plastic foliage brought to Walden Pond in Concord, MA”, “Recordings extracted from YouTube videos made at rural bonfires.”, and the sound of orchestras warming up. From the entryway to the bathrooms, the entire experience is considered as a time-based event which can be composed for, enhancing the dining experience with sound. With speakers placed throughout the dining room, entryway, and bathrooms, the soundscape creates a connection between Fraser’s food, a sense of time, and the sense of place.

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British designer Tom Dixon has completed the interior of the new restaurant at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Created for restauranteur Oliver Peyton of Peyton & Byrne, the dining area features a free-standing metal-framed glass unit to house sculptures that were previously hidden away in the Academy’s archives.

A bar made of lava stone and handmade bricks lines one end of the room, while the dining area has been divided into zones each inspired by an architect or artist key to the Academy’s history, including John Soane and J.M.W Turner.

Furniture and lighting designed by Dixon also features, including a new range of chairs and the perforated Etch lamps (see our earlier story), which hang in clusters.

Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of interior design firm Design Research Studio.

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Here’s some more information from Design Research Studio:

Interior design practice, Design Research Studio, under the direction of British designer Tom Dixon, are creating the interior for the new restaurant at the Royal Academy of Arts. This is the latest project for renowned restaurateur Oliver Peyton of Peyton and Byrne. The 150 cover restaurant will open to the public 18th January 2011.

The 250 m2 refurbishment references the long and illustrious history of the Royal Academy of Arts with materials chosen to complement the existing fabric of the Regency building including marble, brass and velvet.

The dining area is divided into different zones, with each area inspired by the work of a different Royal Academy Great such as Turner and Sir John Soane. To extend the gallery experience for diners, Design Research Studio has designed a dramatic free-standing unit in the centre of the space. Consisting of a number of glass cubes, the structure will house an extraordinary selection of sculptures and busts dating back to 1897. The pieces belong to the Royal Academy of Arts permanent collection but have long been stored out of public view.

The new bar is set to be a key focal point in the restaurant made from Mount Etna lava stone and hand-made glazed brick. Designed as a robust, sculptural object, its grandeur is enhanced by a dramatic cast glass chandelier suspended above. Other interior highlights include digitally etched brass pendant lights and injection-moulded foam seating.

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Paramount by Design Research Studio	Shoreditch House by Design Research Studio	Flash Factory by Tom Dixon

Stuttgart practice Ippolito Fleitz Group have completed the interiors for a fast-food chicken restaurant in Munich, Germany.

Called Wienerwald, the restaurant has tree motifs and forest graphics covering some of the walls and windows of the bright green space.

The use of brown and green througout the interior space is meant to reference nature and the forest.

The very first Wienerwald restaurant was opened in 1955 and the Ippolito Fleitz Group have been commissioned to rebrand all the restaurants.

Photographs are by Zooey Braun.

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Here’s some information from the architects:

Friedrich Jahn opened the very first Wienerwald restaurant in Munich in 1955. The synonymous fast-food chain expanded over the following decades until it was operating branches in 18 countries. Following the collapse of the group, the company was under varying ownership until the grandchildren of the founding family bought back the rights to the brand in 2007. Their goal is now to build on the long tradition of the company, exploiting both the strength of the brand and the uniqueness of their gastronomic concept. Our studio was commissioned to develop new corporate architecture for the chain, which has already been rolled out in two Wienerwald branches in Munich.

Wienerwald has not only relaunched its visual presence, but also its culinary offering. Chicken, with its naturally low-fat, healthy meat, remains the main staple of the menu. However a second focus on fresh chopped salads has been introduced to move the food chain into the sector of fresh and healthy foods.

The new interior design underscores the realignment of the brand, while translating the chain’s traditional strengths of high quality, comfort and German cuisine into a contemporary design idiom. Materials and colours reflect the principles of freshness and naturalness, which find their expression in materials such as wood, leather and textiles, as well as in the dominant green tones that complement the fresh white. Gold is used as an accent colour, conjuring up associations of quality and the crisp, gold-coloured skin of the main product, the Wienerwald grilled chicken.

The space has been organised to ensure good visitor guidance, crucial in a self-service restaurant, as well as respecting the need for a differentiated selection of seating. Upon entering the restaurant, the guest is guided towards a frontally positioned counter, which presents itself as a clearly structured, monolithic unit. Menu boards suspended above the counter visualise the range of food on offer. The food itself is also visible: An indirectly lit niche in the rear wall of the service area presents a selection of salads adjacent to grilled chickens turning on a spit. The wall is covered in anthracite mosaic stones, into which frameless, stainless steel units have been precisely inserted, thereby underscoring the high standard of the products. A neon green arrow in the centre of the rear wall indicates a hatch to the kitchen where fried chicken dishes are prepared.

Order and payment terminals occupy the far ends of the white, solid surface counter. The chopping station is in the middle. After ordering, this is where salads are chopped, chicken is portioned and toppings are added from containers set into the counter under the guests’ watchful eyes. In the wall adjacent to the payment terminal, a display refrigerator stocks drinks and desserts. The restaurant remains odourless thanks to a ventilation and extraction system integrated into the counter area.

In front of the service counter is a service station made of white solid surface, offering sauces, condiments and cutlery. It stands on golden chicken legs and looks expectantly towards the entrance. Green instructions and Wienerwald chickens set into the rustic wood floor show the customer how to navigate the ordering process.

The dining area offers a range of seating options catering toward different requirements. White solid surface high bar tables are available for guests with little time on their hands. These are supported by a single leg with a tapering cylinder at its foot, recalling the traditional turned table leg. Alternative seating is available in an elongated seating group upholstered in brown, artificial leather, a reflection of the traditional Wienerwald seating niches.

Guests are really spirited away into the ‘Wienerwald’ (English: Vienna Woods) here. Overlapping, rough-sawn oak panels on the rear wall quote the forest theme. Round mirrors printed with the outlines of tree and forest motifs are set into this wall. Different-sized pendant luminaires at varying heights hang over the tables. These are sheathed in a roughly woven fabric in three shades of green and ensure a pleasant atmosphere.

Forest images in different shades of green on wallpaper occupy one side wall, as well as transparencies on the windows. The view into the restaurant from the outside thus becomes a multi-faceted experience in which the individual elements on the mirror and glass surfaces reflect and overlap one another, making the brand world a truly holistic experience.

A display of dining plates on the wall is dedicated to the Wienerwald company and its long tradition, reminiscing on the history of the brand in 14 motifs. They pay tribute to Friedrich Jahn, the brand’s founding father, and show a photograph of the first Wienerwald restaurant. The new restaurant design repositions Wienerwald as a contemporary fast-food chain. Traditional elements of the brand have been incorporated and translated into modern spatial elements with an exciting twist.

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AG Cafe by Kidosaki Architects Studio	Beijing Noodle No. 9 by design spirits co., ltd	Blu Apple by Budi Pradono architects

This bar in Shanghai by 3GATTI Architecture Studio has an undulating cave-like form created by apertures cut into fins along its length.

Called Zebar, the live music venue has a zig-zag plan.

Each of the boards used to make the fins and shape the interior was cut by hand.

Photographs are by Daniele Mattioli.

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The information below is from 3GATTI Architecture Studio:

ZEBAR
a live bar in Shanghai

This project was born in 2006 when a Singaporean movie director and an ex musician from the south of China decided to open a live bar in Shanghai.

The budget was very low but the client was incredibly good and open-minded to us.

The schedule was very tight and fortunately they liked immediately one of the first concepts I proposed to them: a caved space formed from of a digital Boolean subtraction of hundreds of slices from an amorphic blob.

The idea looks complex but actually is very simple and was born naturally from the digital 3D modelling environments where me and others enjoy playing with virtual volumes and spaces.

The space was subdivided into slices to bring it back from the digital into the real world; to give a real shape to each of the infinite sections of the fluid rhino nurbs surfaces.

In Europe the natural consequence of this kind of design will be giving the digital model to the factory and thanks to the numeric control machines cut easily the huge amount of sections all different from each other.

But we were in China where the work of machines is replaced by the work of low paid humans.

Using a projector they placed all the sections we drew on the plasterboards and then cut each of them by hands.

The cost was surprisingly low and the sense of guilt towards the workers higher.

The construction was incredibly fast and was almost finished in a couple of months, when we discovered the naïve clients didn’t have any business plan and the site remained closed for 3 years and was finally completed and opened in 2010 when they discovered how to run the business.

This is the story of the ZEBAR, a digital design built into an analogic world.

Text by Francesco Gatti

ZEBAR CREDITS:

Architecture firm: 3GATTI
Chief architect: Francesco Gatti
Project manager: Summer Nie
Collaborators:
Nicole Ni, Chen Qiuju, Kelly Han, Chen Han Yi, Lu Cheng Yuan, Jessie Zhengxin, Ronghui Chen, Vivian Husiyue, Aurgho Jyoti

Programme:
Bar, restaurant, live music stage area, lounge area, dining area, kitchen, toilets.

Contractor: Eric Liang
Client: Jim Dandy
Location: KIC plaza, Chuangzhi Tiandi, Songhu road, Shanghai
Total area: 569 m²
Design period:autumn 2006
Construction period:spring 2008
Bar opening: november 2010
Materials: white epoxy, black concrete, plywood and plasterboard

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This espresso bar to be located near Grand Central Station in New York was designed by New York studio Nemaworkshop to resemble a library turned on its side.

Called D’espresso, the interior has been rotated 90 degrees so that one wall features herringbone-pattern wooden flooring while the opposite wall will have pendent lights protruding horizontally.

A photograph of bookshelves printed on custom tiles will line the floor, end wall and ceiling.

Images are by David Joseph.

The information below is from Nemaworkshop:

Located on Madison Avenue, the espresso bar conceptually and literally turns a normal room sideways, creating a striking identity for the emerging brand.

The client approached nemaworkshop with an ambition to build a unique espresso brand and to develop a creative environment that connects to its location on Madison Avenue near Grand Central Station. Inspired by the nearby Bryant Park Library, nemaworkshop designed a store that is straightforward in a simple twisted way – Take a library and turn it SIDEWAYS.

The book-lined shelves become the floor and ceilings and wood floor ends up on the walls meanwhile the pendants protrude sideways from the wall. To achieve the books shelves on the floor, the space is lined with sepia-toned full size photograph of books printed on custom tiles.

The custom tiles run along the floor, up the 15’ foot wall and across the ceiling. The frosted glass wall behind the service counter illuminates the space and the wall directly opposite is clad in dark brown herringbone. The thrust of this concept finds expression in the lighting and materiality, and ultimately the space gives definition to the emerging brand. The concept itself is bold and receptive to future locations.

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