Project Team

design: Blackmilk Interior Design
av: Digital Living

Suppliers

builders: Schiavello
carpets: Rugs Carpets and Design
lighting: Libertine Chandeliers
music: Nightlife
heating: Celmec International


Photography: Earl Carter

Heavily influenced by the 1800’s New York fish markets and today’s ever busy and industrial Meat Packing District, The Atlantic is a showcase of contrast, old and new. The Atlantic redefines big room dining and introduces smaller, intimate and private spaces throughout the 300-seat restaurant that are flexible based on the dining needs on any given day.

The theatre of the open kitchen, oyster bar and fish display creates a trusting relationship between the chef and the patron, an element missing from many quality seafood restaurants.

Balanced with weathered timbers, bluestone, vintage etchings and traditional Persian inspired carpets, each space presents an honest familiarity. The timber screens add warmth to the space, while the glass panelling provides its contrast, presented as walls of water.

Adding to the subtle nautical theme, faux pressure valves and pipes add to the chic industrial elements, rope pendant lights hang over the main dining room, the bathrooms showcase quirky graphics from the ocean and netting drapes the floor to ceiling windows.

The Atlantic is an individual, intimate and balanced statement.

The Den at The Atlantic, Crown
The Den lounge bar is a retreat away from the hectic Crown experience.

Located in the basement of The Atlantic, The Den’s presents bar influenced by the world at the turn of the century. Under a New York City train overpass, steel structural beams suggest a subterranean world in contrast with a family study.

As if numerous people had lived at The Den over time, it is reminiscent of an old world. Filled with bookcases, heirlooms, velvet sofas, vintage Persian rugs, cottage chairs and a grand piano, it builds on a kind of magic only history could create.

Layered by time, The Den begins read as a love story. As each occupant moved on, they left behind not only their objects, but also their memories. This builds a space rich with warmth and emotion, an eclectic and diverse lounge experience.

The Den displays the past, present and future and urges patrons to leave behind their own footprint.

Digital Living designed, supplied and installed the audio system for The Atalantic. The restaurant has been divided into multiple audio zones: main dining room, four private dining rooms, and three semi-private dining rooms on the ground floor with a separate exclusive cocktail bar in the basement with its own private function area. The first floor and basement can have their own audio source playing if required and volume levels for all independent areas have their own volume level adjustment making it possible for the staff to cater to the personal requirements of the dining experience. Each bar also has Ipod integration to cater for corporate or private hire of the facilities and it’s just a matter of plug and play making it user friendly for all staff.

Taking advantage of the fully featured Nightlife HDMS system and utilizing a separate stream for each floor, the management can pre-program the listening experience throughout the entire week from opening, through lunch service, lifting the tempo into after works drinks for the Oyster bar and then on into the evening without a second thought.
When looking to design a music format for Atlantic, Simon Digby and Hatem Saleh were looking to draw on the energy of the dining areas and the inviting Oyster Bar at the front entry. The Atlantic dining experience is not a passive one. The large open kitchen and the numerous attentive staff lend a hum to the venue. While there are alcoves and dinning nooks, the overall impression is one of a vibrant elegance.


Nightlife Music Video was given the task of sourcing music from over 800 labels throughout the world. The Atlantic was influenced by the classic New York and Parisian Restaurant and Bar scene - and the music would be anything but predictable. They didn’t want elevator music. They wanted a DJ style mix of French House, cool Soul with the element of surprise. The result, a customised music mix that is a dynamic blend of Nightlife’s CAFE FRENCH, SOUL BEATS and other matched lists resulting in a unique Atlantic format. This is carried through to The Den below. This classic and cosy cellar bar uses leading DJs and white suited piano players at times, then relies on the Nightlife mix to keep the restrained energy bubbling.

An Allen & Heath iDr8 processor was chosen as standard equipment by Digital Living because of its vast feature set and flexibility. A key part of the design was to keep it simple and the built in scheduler means the audio system does not require an additional control system for day to day operations nor is there a need to add any additional third party speaker protection components.

The entire system wakes up at a pre-determined time in the morning and shuts off at the end of the day, all levels are automatically set regardless of any adjustments made the day before. In the event of any technical difficulties with sources or power failures etc any of the staff can refer to the conveniently located Digital Living Quick Reference Guide. This leads them to a single push of a RESET button which will bring them back to the daily startup sequence. Alternatively another button labeled “Ipod – all zones” allows for a contingency plan to prevent the diners from being left in silence.

Celmec Heatray

Heatray Electric Radiant Heaters provide superior close proximity heating, for both indoor and outdoor heating applications. Available with a range of mounting options, the Heatray Electric Radiant Heaters produce radiant heat, the same as the sun’s energy, directly warming people and objects in its path..

Celmec International

The ground floor dining area speaker selection and placement presented some challenges as the venue has complex ceilings and varying ceiling heights. QSC Audio provide a fantastic range and diversity throughout the 5.25” and 4” ceiling speakers and also matched beautifully with the surface mounted models when required.

The Oyster Bar speakers were simply accompanied by the matching
ceiling subwoofer to give the bar more warmth when required later on in the evening.

The basement level of the venue is the converted car park area - “The Den” cocktail bar, and here the brief called for a much greater level of sound. The long shaped room with low ceilings of the car park presented its own challenges. A pair of Martin AQ8’s, together with a matched Martin AQ210 subwoofer were placed in three separate sections of the bar providing a clear, full range sound to the space, while the Allen & Heath iDr8 catered for the various delays and room equalization.

All speakers in the restaurant area are powered by QSC 100v amplifiers with all signal processing done by the Allen & Heath IDr8. All equipment has been centrally located in a single rack with PS Audio power conditioner and UPS system.