Once upon a time, in a gastronomic land far away, a restaurant or bar that merely sated our appetite was deemed good enough. This land no longer exists. Our attitudes and expectations about where we want to meet, play, drink and eat have drastically changed. It’s now as much about pleasing the eye as pleasing the taste buds to endure a fulfilling dining experience.
The Restaurant & Bar Awards are the only awards in the world dedicated to the design of food and beverage spaces. That covers every imaginable type of space, from ships to airports, museums to burger vans, from revered Michelin-starred establishments to the fleeting dynamism of pop-ups. The awards have been turned into a book that is thoroughly enjoyable – and quite easy to get lost in for hours at a time.
This book is a visual feast that every designer should experience- obviously for the creativity and brilliant concepts and details, but also for an insight to what is happening in the industries of design, architecture and gastronomy. Come feast your eyes and you will see what I mean…
SWITCH/Dubai
Designed as a dazzling futuristic odyssey, this spectacular interior is just the place to take some time out in one of the world’s most prestigious shopping destinations. The sinuous triple curves of the Arabic letter skin provided the key element in shaping the design, which is repeated throughout the restaurant both in the structure and form of the walls and echoed in the decoration. By rotating the letter so it sits on its side, the free-standing and reduplicating structures form a continuously undulating surface that snakes along the walls and overhead, making guests feel as thought they have stepped into a cocoon. The moulded plastic walls bathe guests in an evolving spectrum of colors.
TOY/ New York, NY
A fusion of dining and nightlife in the Gansevoort Hotel, this contemporary Asian restaurant takes classic Oriental imagery and recasts it with startling futuristic effect. After hours the atmospheric surroundings host special DJ nights, complete with laser lighting and dancers suspended in mid-air. A mirrored structure descends from the ceiling to cover the DJ booth, its angled surfaces reflecting light through the venue and each triangular panel being animated individually by projected images. The blown up image of a Ming vase was applied with sheeting directly to the graphic wall.
AMMO/ Hong Kong
The stunning interior design of this restaurant and bar derives from its location, the building having originally served the British Army in the mid-19th century as an explosives depot. It is now home to the Asia Society, a not-for-profit arts and education center.
Adding sharp modern touches to this historical underlay, the result is spacious as well as luxurious, replete with velvets, silks and leather, offset against curved metals concrete and glass. Copper is used continuously throughout, which gradually transforms through shades of pink, orange, green and brown as it oxidizes over time. Large windows made it important to manage the acoustics. A fabric-clad mirror feature was fitted to the ceiling, while the granite columns were masked with special sound-minimizing panels
COCTEAU/Beruit
Almost a topsy-turvy city in miniature, with towering columns and curious suspended structures, this spacious restaurant is an enticing venue with abundant detail to attract the eye.
Winner of the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards, Middle East & Africa category, in 2012, the dining hall boasts a high ceiling, a long bar and a large glass facade.
The original open-space plan has been fitted out with a view to creating a fine dining experience. In addition to the larger structural elements the interior is fashioned on the model of a modern brassiere, as typified by flowing lines and the rectangular light cubes, with bronze, leather and glass evoking the dynamic movement of the modern city.
The art of hospitality design..
Restaurants and bars offer architects and interior designers the opportunity to design for both style and entertainment. Aesthetics and function must come together to create ambiance and conviviality in a way that not only makes a bold first impression, but also secures a loyal following of regular customers. The Restaurant & Bar Design Awards—the world’s only awards dedicated to hospitality design—recognize the importance of this particular field, singling out the world’s most exceptional settings for eating and drinking. Each year, entries are submitted from all sectors, including hotels, offices, transport, industry, fine dining, education, sports and leisure, healthcare, government, aviation, cruise, and retail. A panel of top design, lifestyle, and hospitality professionals judges the entries.
Divided into five chapters—Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Middle East—the book features 100 highlights from the establishments put forward to the panel. Texts include chapter introductions by experts and judges such as Tony Chambers (editor-in-chief of Wallpaper*) and designer Karim Rashid, and a preface by the author and founder of the awards, Marco Rebora.
Entries include:
Numerous photographs
A fact sheet of location, architect/designer, cost, and size of build for each project
A text describing the original briefing, the challenges involved, and their solutions
Information about the architect and designer
Marco Rebora founded the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards in 2008. An Italian, he was born in Belgium and lives in the UK. He studied Fashion Design and Marketing, and previous to founding the Awards he created and ran the Neon restaurant in Brixton, London.
(TAIWAN NOODLE HOUSE/China – pictured on the cover)
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