Restaurants gets a touch of theatre

The growing influence of theatre design on the Sydney restaurant scene has no bigger calling card than Maurice Terzini and Robert Marchetti's Neild Avenue, which opens on Thursday at Rushcutters Bay.

"From outside it looks like a theatre set," says its designer, Italian-based Australian, Carl Pickering, of Lazzarini Pickering. Rigging allows the restaurant to change dimensions and drop in room dividers. "You might make it more intimate on a quieter Tuesday night. The set looks like an abstract version of a suburban house. I wanted to use sandbags to go for the full theatre look but there were health and safety issues [using them]," Pickering explains.

With Marchetti confirming a project budget of $3 million, Neild Avenue isn't exactly a modest off-Broadway production. But it is right on trend. The new John and Peter Canteen at CarriageWorks used theatre designer Tony Assness for its detailing, and John Fink from Quay has already signalled he'll use a theatre designer for a spin-off restaurant next year. Pickering, who also designed Terzini and Marchetti's Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, recently finished work on a private jet in Europe where he put a strip of mirror on the ceiling to increase its sense of height. The designer has one gripe with our restaurants.

"I get acoustic poisoning in Sydney," he says.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald