Project Team

design: Rice Design

Suppliers

lighting: Dedece, Lliving Edge
furniture: BCI Furniture

photos: J A McMahon / Susan Gordon-Brown

The space Rice Design had to work with was a 200m2 box, part of an 80’s office building with no design features to use. It was previously a post office, so restaurant was starting from scratch and planning had some restrictions due to the fifty floors of office and hotel above e.g. location of kitchen exhausts.

Garbage removal was a problem due to location and no rear exit from the space. The lease included a large outdoor area attached to the space rather than kerb side.

The brief given to the designers was to create a feeling of permanence and longevity. The client mentioned several restaurants as examples of this such as Florentino’s Cellar Bar and Pelligrini’s. The venue had to be suitable for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The client wanted people to use the space more than once a week, so it needed to feel comfortable, accessible and varied. A simple French bistro to complement the chef’s food and provide an intimate bar connected but separate.

Rice Design undertook the first sketches for the clients in late 2010, but true design didn’t start until June 2011 when the lease was signed, the restaurant opened in March 2012.

The tenders came in over budget and modifications to the design were made to facilitate cost savings. An acoustic engineer and a lighting consultant were engaged to make sure lighting & noise levels complimented the brief and design.

Planning was initiated by the location of kitchen exhausts. The restaurant is located next to the kitchen to facilitate dinner’s participation with the kitchen. The bar is located centrally to create the smaller intimate bar/food area. The bars distance from the kitchen meant planning needed to consider how to service and clear the bar area
with food.

A lift was included to transport garbage to the lower level and halfway through the project a lower ground prep room, office and staff facilities were added which are adjacent to the lift.

A series of screens have been designed through the space to assist in dividing the space both visually & physically; these screens are almost completely see-through from some angles and quite solid from others, allowing intimate areas to be created in what is a very open space.

Rice Design believe they have created a restaurant and bar which works as a coherent entity with the location, food and space, and cleverly fulfils the brief. There is no clear element that defines its period and could have always been there, (yet is in no way retro) it does not intimidate and intentionally does not resort to gimmicks. The design and materials will age gracefully and not be out of date or look tired and in need or refurbishment in a couple of years (sustainable design).

The venue features an uncomplicated “modernist” palette of wood, metal and stone except instead of shiny and new, they are slightly ‘worn’ e.g. instead of black, they used charcoal grey, instead of polished stone they used honed and instead of chrome, they used stainless steel, mirrors are distressed. Furniture and fittings were also carefully selected to reinforce this idea.

The interior appears deceptively simple and therefore does not intimidate. The complexities only become apparent gradually, through use whilst sitting in the space. The texture and detail are subtle and purposeful, the herringbone laid floor tiles tie the spaces together and give a cheap commercial tile subtle sophistication, the timber boards to bar provide
warmth, create a seat, hide the acoustic treatment and warm the space and the distressed mirrored tiles elongate the small narrow space. All elements have been carefully selected and designed to add to the overall space and to assist in fulfilling the clients brief.