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      Upstairs lounge with “DIY” design approach opens at Public Records

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      Public Records co-founders Shane Davis and Francis Harris have added a bar and lounge on an upper floor of their multi-purpose creative venue in Brooklyn.

      Upstairs is the latest addition to Public Records, which was opened in 2019 by musician Harris and creative consultant Davis, who led the design of both the original spaces and the new lounge.
      The Upstairs lounge at Public Records is anchored by a dark marble bar and glossy black floorThe extension joins a variety of programmed areas in the industrial brick building, including a cafe and record store, a plant-based bar and restaurant, an outdoor garden and a Sound Room for live performances.
      For Upstairs, Davis collaborated with DSLV Studio on the interiors, Arup for the acoustics, and a cast of makers to renovate the upper-level space – once occupied by Retrofret Vintage Guitars.
      A “DIY approach” was taken to the design of the space, which involved multiple collaborators”We felt that people would value a space that inspires more intimate connection than our other spaces,” said David. “This framework then provides opportunities to explore our ideas and showcase those of our collaborators on various scales, whether it be a sound system, a chair, an event series, or a cocktail.”

      The room is anchored by a dark, patterned marble bar, which together with the glossy black floor contrasts the mostly white walls and furniture.
      Particular attention was paid to the sound quality in the space, which includes large subwoofer speakers by OJASParticular attention was paid to the sound quality in the space, where walls are furred out and undulated to bounce music around the room from large subwoofer speakers.
      These are housed in cabinets by Devon Turnbull of OJAS and positioned against the back wall, with either side of the cabinets containing a diverse array of equipment including a reel-to-reel tape player.
      Custom furniture pieces include the PR Lounge Chair, designed with local fabricator Joe CauvelPatrons will be able to choose from a curated selection of records and CDs available to play during gatherings, events and parties.
      “Intentional listening on an audio system that showcases the practices of production in the music space allows for a deeper understanding and appreciation of the cultural significance of musicians and producers who are an integral part of how we shape our perception of the world,” said Harris.

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      Wrapping the room are cream leather banquettes, accompanied by circular glass tables, and black ceramic and foam stools commissioned from Zurich-based artist Cristian Anderson that are reminiscent of used paint buckets.
      Also scattered through the space is the custom PR Lounge Chair, designed with local fabricator Joe Cauvel and constructed of plywood and steel with exposed joinery.
      Exposed ductwork and services found throughout the old industrial building are also present in UpstairsExposed ductwork and services found throughout the building are also present in Upstairs, which continues the same “DIY approach” taken to all of Public Records’ spaces.
      Brooklyn has no end of venues that act as community hubs, workspaces and nightlife spots geared towards its thriving creative population.
      Black ceramic and foam stools by artist Cristian Anderson are reminiscent of used paint bucketsAmong others are The Mercury Store performing arts centre in Dumbo and the 77 Washington artist studios in the Navy Yard.
      Elsewhere in New York City, creative co-working space Neuehouse recently updated its hospitality areas.
      The photography is by Ill Gander.

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      VSHD Design creates “intriguing and mysterious” interior for sushi restaurant Origami

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      Emirati studio VSHD Design has completed a dark and dramatic interior for a restaurant in The Dubai Mall, featuring a pared-back palette of natural materials chosen to reflect Japanese minimalism.

      Origami is a sushi restaurant, whose first outpost opened in Dubai’s Jumeriah neighbourhood in 2014.
      VSHD Design has designed the Origami restaurant in The Dubai MallFor its second branch, the owners asked VSHD Design to create a space that provides a unique experience within the cookie-cutter environment of a shopping mall.
      The studio, led by interior architect Rania Hamed, used materials such as textured grey plaster, matte-black tiles and low lighting to create an atmosphere that evokes the underground sushi bars found throughout Japan.
      Glass bricks form a low bar in the waiting area”Origami’s interior makeover features simple forms in natural materials, and organic shapes reflecting the simplicity and minimalism of traditional Japanese culture,” VSHD Design explained.

      The interior features monolithic columns and walls informed by the architecture of temples, along with seating covered with draped fabric and textured glass partitions that contribute to the feeling of “intrigue and mystery”, the studio said.
      Six-metre-thick columns frame the restaurant’s entranceThe restaurant is entered through the gaps between a number of six-metre-thick columns, designed to enhance the sense of separation between the mall and the main dining room.
      A small retail space on one side of the entrance hosts a concession selling chocolates while on the other side, a low bar area with wooden stools and a glass-block counter provides a waiting area for diners.

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      “The solid shop front facade made of rammed-earth clay and glass bricks evokes a feeling of intrigue meant to draw people inside,” said VSHD Design.
      The narrow entrance also limits the amount of natural light entering the dining room, which helps to maintain the dark and intimate feel.
      The main dining room is dimly litThe restaurant is arranged over two split levels that offer different seating arrangements, with the main area featuring built-in bench seating arranged around its perimeter.
      Three steps lead up to a space housing the sushi bar, which is illuminated by an overhead light box and allows diners to watch the chefs at work.
      A sushi counter at the back allows diners to watch the chefs at workBlack tiles covering the walls, floors and counter create a dark and minimalist ambience throughout the interior.
      The furnishings, including wooden chairs and benches upholstered with draped white fabric, provide a more relaxed and tactile element.
      “Overall, it is the lines, the materials and the colours incorporated within the design that uphold a Japanese sensibility and spirit, while still appealing to a modern sense of luxury,” the studio said.
      Black tiles cover the walls and floorsRania Hamed founded VSHD Design in 2007 and has since worked on residential and commercial projects in countries including Jordan, Egypt and the United Kingdom.
      The studio’s projects in Dubai include a gym that references brutalist architecture and underground fight clubs, as well as a coffee shop with a curved ceiling and boulder-like counters.
      The photography is by Oculis Project.

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      Renovated Mayfair pub The Audley is filled to the brim with art

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      Artworks by Andy Warhol, Lucian Freud and more can be seen throughout The Audley pub and its restaurant in London’s Mayfair, designed by architecture studio Laplace.

      The venue occupies a listed five-storey building dating back to 1888, which formerly functioned as a pub with rooms for staff upstairs.
      Laplace designed The Audley pub (above) and its restaurant (top image) in LondonNow, the ground-floor public house has been restored while the upper levels were converted into the Mount St Restaurant, complete with four private dining rooms.
      The renovation was commissioned by Artfarm – the hospitality company of Hauser & Wirth founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth – with the aim of upgrading the pub’s interior while preserving its original features.
      British artist Phyllida Barlow has created a colourful collage on the pub’s ceiling”The word Audley is English Anglo-Saxon for ‘old friend’ and the pub has been an old friend to people who live and work in Mayfair ever since it opened in Edwardian times,” said Artfarm’s CEO Ewan Venters. “We wanted it to remain just that.”

      “This area is so rich in culture and history, and where better for those stories to continue than at the local pub?”
      Mount St Restaurant sits above the pub on the building’s first floorFrench studio Laplace was selected to lead the pub’s redesign, having already worked on a number of Hauser & Wirth’s international art galleries including its outposts in Somerset and on the Spanish island of Menorca.
      In the ground-floor pub, the studio freshened up the woodwork and brought in a team of specialists who, over the course of eight weeks, hand-polished almost every surface of the interior.
      Restoration work was also carried out on The Audley’s 19th-century clock and fireplace, and a new chestnut-brown leather banquette was installed.
      Artworks cover every wall of the restaurantThe ceiling is now covered in a newly commissioned collage by British artist Phyllida Barlow. It comprises brightly coloured sheets of paper that were pasted into an abstract pattern, at points forming arch shapes that mimic the curvature of the pub’s windows.
      More artworks by the likes of Turner Prize-winner Martin Creed and Canadian artist Rodney Graham were mounted on the walls.
      The salt and pepper shakers take cues from artist Paul McCarthy’s Tree sculptureThe Audley sells traditional pub snacks while in the upstairs Mount St Restaurant, a full menu of classic London dishes is on offer.
      This first-floor space is jam-packed with art pieces including a self-portrait by Lucian Freud, a lobster print by Andy Warhol and an abstract landscape by painter Frank Auerbach that depicts London’s Primrose Hill.

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      The floor is taken over by a bold mosaic created by American artist Rashid Johnson and made up of different types of marble. Another American artist, Matthew Day Jackson, is responsible for the crimson-coloured dining chairs with wriggly frames.
      Art also inspired the restaurant’s finer details; the salt and pepper shakers are modelled after Paul McCarthy’s playful sculpture Tree while the lamps that centre each of the leather-topped tables are based on Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s work Powder Box.
      “We have created coherent spaces in which art and design flow naturally, avoiding the pitfalls of obsolete artistic or aesthetic statements,” explained Laplace.
      The Swiss Room is one of four private dining rooms on siteThe project also saw the studio create four private dining spaces on-site, which are available for hire.
      On the building’s second level is The Swiss Room, designed to celebrate the nationality of Iwan and Manuela Wirth, who founded Hauser & Wirth together with Ursula Hauser in Zurich in 1992.
      Here, the parquet oak floor was stained brown, red and teal-blue to emulate a watercolour by Taeuber-Arp.
      Palazzos inspired the rich look of The Italian RoomNearby is the Italian Room & Bar, which draws on the aesthetic of grand palazzos. Its walls are painted a rich mustard-yellow hue, while deep-green Verde Alpi marble from Italy was used to craft the countertop of the bar and the flooring.
      The building’s third level accommodates The Scottish Room with a nine-metre-long oak table at its centre surrounded by hand-carved chairs, each inlaid with a custom tartan designed by weaver Araminta Campbell.
      Directly above hangs a dramatic antler chandelier.
      An antler chandelier is the focal point of The Scottish Room. Photo by Sim Canetty-ClarkeFinally on the fourth level is The Games Room, which Laplace styled to have the feel of a “clandestine enclave”.
      It features tasselled ceiling lamps, a blood-red tufted sofa and a one-off rug made by Laplace in collaboration with the former assistant of French-American artist Louise Bourgeois.
      At this level, guests can also see the inside of the building’s turret, which features an erotic fresco by British artist Anj Smith.
      Plush furnishings fill The Games Room. Photo by Sim Canetty-ClarkeLondon’s affluent Mayfair neighbourhood is a hotspot for bars and restaurants.
      Among them is the recently-opened Bacchanalia, which features giant mythology-inspired sculptures by Damien Hirst, and The Red Room bar inside The Connaught Hotel, which is designed to feel like an art collector’s home.
      The photography is by Simon Brown unless stated otherwise. 

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      Dishoom Canary Wharf recalls 1970s Irani cafes near Bombay Stock Exchange

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      Prolific restaurant Dishoom has opened its first new London venue in five years, featuring an interior designed around a “financial fraudster from the 1970s”.

      As with previous venues, restaurant co-founders Shamil and Kavi Thakrar teamed up with architecture studio Macaulay Sinclair on the design of Dishoom Canary Wharf.
      Dishoom Canary Wharf is the restaurant’s sixth venue in LondonReferencing its setting near many of London’s banking headquarters, the design imagines an Irani cafe near the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1970s India.
      “When we create a Dishoom, we always start with a story,” explained Shamil Thakrar.
      The entrance leads into a double-height bar”We imagined the fictional owner of the restaurant to be a financial fraudster from the 1970s who owns a cafe on Dalal Street, close to the Bombay Stock Exchange,” he told Dezeen.

      “This story gave us an opportunity to experiment with the aesthetic and feeling of the 1970s in Bombay, which, as you can imagine, has a rich history of financial intrigue.”
      The backdrop to this space is a high-gloss teal wallKey to the design is the retro furnishings that feature throughout the 750-square-metre restaurant.
      Vintage chairs, lighting fixtures and ornaments were sourced from antique dealers in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), carefully restored and shipped back to the UK.
      “The procurement process for each Dishoom starts with the sourcing trip,” said Ian Roome, associate director at Macaulay Sinclair.
      A vintage clock provides a focal point within the bespoke joinery of the barOne of the most important finds was a vintage diamond-shaped clock, which is set into bespoke joinery as the focal point of a grand bar that greets guests when they first arrive.
      According to Roome, this element draws inspiration from the lobby clock in Mumbai’s West End Hotel, which is located in the same neighbourhood as the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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      “The position of the 10-metre bar servery is, in our opinion, the key component in the restaurant,” he told Dezeen.
      “It creates an impressive focal point in the Permit Room bar, engaging with guests from all angles and viewpoints.”
      Restored vintage furniture features throughout the dining spacesThis double-height arrival space is naturally divided into zones by different furniture types that include low-slung lounge seats, banquette booths and cushioned leather bar stools.
      Rotating ceiling fans and rattan panelling – both Dishoom staples – also feature here, while the backdrop is a glossy teal wall that takes its cues from the Bombay Gymkhana.
      “We researched 1970s Bombay extensively,” said Roome, before reeling off a list of places in Mumbai’s Fort area that were visited as part of the design process.
      “They guide every single detail of the design aesthetic and tone,” he said.
      Retro wallpaper infills timber wall panellingThe dining spaces are more intimate in scale, set beneath a mezzanine-level kitchen.
      These spaces are filled with texture, thanks to parquet and patterned-tile floors, panelled walls infilled with retro wallpaper, and a mix of wood and marble tabletops.
      Seating upholstery comes in patterned fabric and leather in shades of green, yellow, brown and red. A family room sits off to one side, with colours that reference the stairwell of the Parsi Lying-In Hospital.
      The family room features green leather seating upholsteryThe Dishoom restaurants, which first launched in 2010, are based on the Irani cafes that were once widespread in Bombay but are now increasingly rare.
      There are now six Dishooms in London, including one in a former transit shed near King’s Cross station, plus outposts in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester.
      Shamil Thakrar explained the concept in a 2010 interview with Dezeen founder Marcus Fairs.
      Old photographs hang on the wallsWith Dishoom Canary Wharf, Thakrar hopes to have created a stronger sense of 1970s glamour than in any of the restaurants.
      “It feels like one of the richest designs we’ve created,” he said. “The room furthest back feels to me like the Air India first class lounge circa 1973, although I’m too young to remember this of course.”
      “I also love the artwork, which works again to reinforce the character and the time setting of the protagonist in our story.”

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      Aurelien Chen retains references to China's “Red Era” in renovated cultural centre

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      Architect Aurelien Chen has transformed a former miners’ canteen in Handan, China, into a multipurpose cultural centre featuring interventions that respond to the building’s communist heritage.

      The canteen was built in the 1970s to serve workers at the Jinxing coal mine in China’s Hebei Province.
      It is surrounded by office buildings dating back to 1912 that were built by German architects and feature a distinctly Western aesthetic.
      The canteen was built to serve coal mine workersThe local government engaged China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) to oversee the sustainable renovation of the site, with Beijing-based Chen asked to head up the design team.
      The site is designated as a tourist destination with a focus on representing China’s evolution during the “Red Era”, beginning with the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921 and culminating in the Cultural Revolution that took place from 1966-1976.

      Following a historical survey of the site, it was determined that the early 20th-century buildings should be restored to their original condition.
      It was renovated and refurbished by CSCEC and Aurelien ChenChen told Dezeen that he felt the canteen building should also be preserved as it complements the masterplan and style of the earlier structures.
      He explained that the brief for the refurbishment was to emphasise and recreate architectural elements that had been lost over time or were in need of significant restoration.
      The interior was developed around existing historical features”Instead of recreating a fake Red Era atmosphere, I preferred to keep the few historical traces that already existed within the building,” said Chen.
      “I developed the design and the space around them, attempting to subtly evoke the colours, materials and furniture of that time.”
      Vaults in the building were preservedOne of the most significant interventions is a flower-shaped, multipurpose furniture element located at the centre of the main hall.
      The outline of this space, which can be used as an information desk, exhibition space, stage or relaxation area, evokes a typical Red Era pattern that was painted on the original ceiling.

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      Other furniture in the versatile central hall includes wave-shaped benches and circular reading booths that are intended to provide a sense of fluidity and flexibility of use.
      The circular reading spaces are inspired by the hall’s original ceiling lights and incorporate integrated bookshelves to minimise their visual impact on the space.
      A flower-shaped multipurpose furniture piece sits in the middleExisting dilapidated internal walls were retained and became key features within the renovated spaces. A linear partition wall that was once the canteen’s serving counter was transformed into a reading desk with lamps and high stools.
      The bar area is located in a corner of the space and flanked by a concrete wall displaying Communist slogans painted in Chinese characters.
      The canteen serving counter is now a reading deskChen wanted to incorporate arches into the design to echo details found on a neighbouring historic building. This was achieved by adding a row of booths with arched canopies to the restaurant area.
      The booths also reference arched brick openings uncovered during the renovation process, as well as stone vaults discovered in the basement.
      A glass floor connects the vaults with the public areas aboveThe vaults were preserved in their original state, with minimal interventions helping to transform them into reading corners and exhibition areas. A glass floor maintains a visual connection between these spaces and the public areas above.
      Stairs leading to the basement were moved into an arch-shaped, metal-clad volume added to the facade. The external window openings were reshaped into arches that reference details found on the historic buildings nearby.
      Booths were given miniature arches in a nod to surrounding buildingsChen explained that, although the number of significant heritage details within the building were limited, each one was carefully restored and used as the basis for additions that enhance the link to the past.
      “I would say that new interventions tend to blend with the existing conditions, sometimes in a very immaterial way,” the architect added. “Their shape and space derive directly from original elements, revealing them; the materials, however, are more in contrast.”
      The interior also features undulating seatingOther recent cultural and leisure projects in China include a visitor centre with spiralling tiled roofs and the country’s biggest library, which was designed by Danish studio Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects.

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      Michael Hsu completes cosy Japanese restaurant Uchiko Houston

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      Hearths found in Japanese farmhouses informed the interiors of this restaurant in Houston, designed by Michael Hsu Office of Architecture.

      Michael Hsu Office of Architecture used chunky timber batons to create a deep partition that frames the tiled reception area, creating the impression of a central hearth.
      A wooden lattice frames the entrance to Uchiko Houston”Inspired by the central hearth of Japanese farmhouses, Uchiko presents a sense of intimacy with a central focal point, which feels both old and new,” said the studio.
      “The rough material is manipulated in a refined manner to create an unexpected arrival experience.”
      Warm-toned materials create a cosy atmosphere in the dining roomsThe studio created this latest location for the Uchi brand as a sister concept – Uchiko meaning “child of Uchi” – after designing its space in Miami earlier this year.

      Some of the design elements used in the South Florida restaurant were adapted for this counterpart, including a latticed screen around the entryway.
      Booths are lined with blue patterned wallpaper by Camille WarmingtonThroughout the restaurant, warm tones of timber and Venetian plaster are found alongside cooler blues as in the banquette upholstery and patterned wallpaper by artist Camille Warmington behind the booths.
      The same colour was used by local muralists Alfredo and Vera Montenegro to draw the eye up to double-height portions of the ceiling, which gently curve at the top.
      Murals that echo the wallpaper patterns draw the eye up to the mezzanine levelA mezzanine level overlooking the murals includes a private dining space with a bar and sushi bar inhabiting opposite walls.
      Reclaimed walnut flooring runs through the two main dining spaces, positioned on either side of the hearth-like entryway.
      A chef’s table sits at the centre of the restaurantThe room is also punctuated by a large private dining area, as well as a chef’s table featuring a large, blue fringe light fixture.
      White oak and cedar furniture, including custom banquettes influenced by the work of Brazilian modernist designer Jose Zanine Caldas, are enhanced with bronze and brass details.

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      A long sushi bar stretches the back of the space, with a linear light fixture above highlighting the performances of the chefs behind.
      Custom-designed, cast concrete light shades by sculptor Brandon Mike feature in the entryway and above the dining tables.
      A long sushi bar runs below a linear light fixture”Bold design moves work with layered materiality to create a cosy dining experience,” said the studio.
      Uchiko Houston also has an outdoor patio and bar that adds to the already lively atmosphere of the Post Oak neighbourhood.
      Uchiko Houston’s outdoor patio adds to the lively atmosphere of the Post Oak neighbourhoodMichael Hsu founded his studio in Austin in 2005 and opened a second office in Houston in 2018.
      His team converted a 1940s church into an Asian smokehouse earlier this year and has previously completed projects that range from a Texas Hill Country house to Shake Shack’s headquarters in New York.

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      Dezeen's top 10 restaurant and bar interiors of 2022

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      For the latest roundup in Dezeen’s review of 2022, we have selected 10 restaurant and bar interiors published this year, including a coastal cocktail bar in Italy and a space-themed cafe in South Korea.

      This year’s roundup 0f restaurant and bar interiors also features a European-influenced eatery in a palatial hotel in Salt Lake City, a bar with floors that were designed to look like the flooded streets of Venice and a monochromatic Chinese restaurant.
      Read on for 10 restaurants and bars we covered in 2022:
      Photo by Edmund DabneySketch, UK, by Yinka Shonibare and India Mahdavi
      Artist Yinka Shonibare and architect India Mahdavi replaced the famous pale pink interior of London restaurant Sketch with warm, golden yellows and textured materials.

      “I didn’t want everybody to ask me what the new colour at the gallery is and therefore, I really worked on textures and materials that are evocative of the richness of Africa,” said Mahdavi. “Warmth is the new colour at Sketch.”
      Find out more about Sketch ›
      Photo by Brian W FerryLaurel Brasserie and Bar, US, by Home Studios
      Designed by Brooklyn-based architecture and interiors practice Home Studios, the Laurel Brasserie and Bar is a restaurant inside Salt Lake City’s The Grand America Hotel.
      The hotel was built in a palatial style and includes interiors based on classic European designs. Home Studios retained the brasserie’s European influences but added a contemporary look, incorporating bold and colourful areas to suit family-style dining.
      Find out more about Laurel Brasserie and Bar ›
      Photo by Gregory AbbatePiada, France, by Masquespacio
      Spanish interior design studio Masquespacio used design elements from traditional Italian restaurants to inform the interior of this Italian eatery in the French city of Lyon.
      Booth seating in hues of lilac and nude line the restaurant between wooden tables, chairs and tiled mint-green walls and floors.
      Find out more about Piada ›
      Photo by Peter Paul de Meijer/Eline WillaertBlueness, Belgium, by Space Copenhagen
      In Antwerp, interior design studio Space Copenhagen combined original carved sandstone and marble columns with contemporary Scandinavian furniture to decorate Blueness, a French and Japanese-influenced restaurant.
      A custom bar crafted from red walnut wood by Brussels and Antwerp-based design studio Destroyers Builders was inserted into the space and paired with brushed steel surfaces, dark wooden barstools and a cast aluminium waiter’s station.
      Find out more about Blueness ›
      Photo by Carlo OrienteCivico 29, Italy, by Gae Avitabile
      Ocean blues, wave-like forms and nautical materials fill the interior of Civico 29, a coastal cocktail bar by architect Gae Avitabile in the seafront town of Sperlonga in Italy.
      An aluminium mesh curtain that moves as wind blows through the bar lines two walls of the space and complements a waving, blue-to-white gradient bar that references the nearby ocean and sits at the centre of the space on top of dark red-and-white floor tiles.
      Find out more about Civico 29 ›
      Photo by Jeremie Warshafsky PhotographyBao, China, by StuidoAC
      Canadian design firm StudioAC used a skewed perspective to draw visitors’ eyes to the open kitchen at the rear of this micro-cement-lined Chinese restaurant.
      Cubic and rectilinear tables and benches were similarly clad in micro-cement and line the walls of the restaurant beneath rows of vertical vinyl blinds that were concealed within bulkheads but visible enough to provide a shimmering, sequin-like look.
      Find out more about Bao ›
      Photo by PION studioSyrena Irena, Poland, by Projekt Praga
      Set within a 1950s building in the centre of Warsaw, Syrene Irena bistro designed by Polish architecture firm Projekt Praga combines contemporary and mid-century features.
      The self-serve restaurant uses mid-century design references such as terrazzo-style tables, neon signs and frosted glass sconces to nod to the building’s history as well as the restaurant’s nostalgic menu.
      Find out more about Syrena Irena ›
      Photo by Piotr MaciaszekVa Bene Cicchetti, Poland, by Noke Architects
      Designed by Polish architecture and design studio Noke Architects, Va Bene Cicchetti is an Italian bar in Warsaw informed by Venice that serves drinks and small plates.
      The bar is accessed via an arched doorway that is lined with antique mirrors. Inside a monolithic, red travertine bar is surrounded by hues of red and gold in a nod to the colours of the Venetian flag. The floors of the bar and the bases of chairs were coloured in a sea-like shade of turquoise that aimed to recreate the look of the flooded streets of the Italian archipelago.
      Find out more about Va Bene Cicchetti ›
      Photo by Yevhenii AvramenkoTerra, Ukraine, by YOD Group
      Glass bricks, large columns, terracotta tiles and coppery hues define this restaurant interior in Vynnyky, Ukraine, designed by YOD Group. Named Terra, the restaurant borrows its colour and material palette from the surrounding rolling hills and lake.
      “We aimed to extract colours, textures and impressions from the landscape to translate them into the interior design language,” said the studio. “Like the eyedropper tool in Photoshop, but on a real-life scale, we designed the space to mirror its surroundings.”
      Find out more about Terra ›
      Photo by Yongjoon ChoiSik Mul Sung, South Korea, by Unseenbird
      Sik Mul Sung is a space-age-themed cafe in downtown Seoul, South Korea. Designed by South Korean studio Unseenbird, it incorporates sheets of stainless steel wrapped across the walls, countertops and fixtures.
      The metallic surfaces are contrasted against a red pebble floor and spacey decorative rocks, while a glass-fronted vitrine is a focal point at the cafe and is used to grow vegetables in a vertical farming system.
      Find out more about Sik Mul Sung ›

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      Great White Melrose in LA offers outdoor dining on a pink-plaster patio

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      Pink plastered columns and fireplaces surround this open-concept restaurant on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue, which co-founder and creative director Sam Cooper coloured to match his childhood home.

      Cooper and his business partner Sam Trude recently opened Great White Melrose as their third and largest location in the city, following outposts in Venice Beach and Larchmont Village.
      Fireplaces face each other across the patio dining area at Great White MelroseOn the site of a former laundromat, the 5,000-square-foot (465-square-metre) restaurant was designed by Cooper and his in-house team. Along with its casual menu by chef Juan Ferreiro, the space combines influences from coastal cultures in Australia, Mexico and Europe.
      Dining is available on a partially open patio facing the street, beneath a roof of slatted panels between weathered timber beams.
      The pink-toned plasterwork was chosen to match the colour of co-founder Sam Cooper’s childhood homePink fireplaces face each other across this area, which is lit with a soft glow from large woven pendants found in Pakistan.

      “Completely visible from the street, the open concept was developed very intentionally to create a relationship with the neighborhood, the antithesis of the way so many Los Angeles – and specifically West Hollywood – hospitality venues operate,” said the restaurant team.
      Reclaimed cobblestones sourced from Germany cover the floors inside and outGuests arrive via a ramped cobblestone walkway that passes through a procession of pink arches, each draped in greenery and featuring sconces built into the plasterwork.
      The colour was chosen to match the home where Cooper grew up in Australia, adding “a sentimental touch” to the project.
      The interior space swaps pink for neutral tonesThe reclaimed cobblestone flooring sourced from Germany continues inside, where pink is swapped for neutral tones and a focus is placed on craft.
      A bar made from Portuguese limestone runs along the back of the space, with arched niches behind displaying wine bottles on wooden shelves.
      A bar made from Portuguese limestone runs along the back of the roomOn the main wall hangs a large painting by Berlin-based artist Danny Gretscher that brings hints of the colours found outside into the room.
      Glazed doors with black metal frames concertina open to connect the indoor and outdoor areas.

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      Rattan chairs and brown-toned seat cushions found across both echo the laid-back style typically found at hospitality venues in the Mexican resort of Tulum.
      “Our West Hollywood location is an extension of what we’ve found to be a successful formula that considers all of the necessary elements for an unforgettable dining experience,” said Trude.
      Lighting is integrated into the plasterworkGreat White Melrose combines “interesting art, design, architecture, music, and a variety of options as it pertains to both food and beverage that feature the best ingredients and an ever-growing list of talented makers”, he added.
      Melrose Avenue is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike, thanks to its wealth of boutique shops like Forte Forte, eateries such as the now-shuttered Auburn and design galleries including Francis Gallery LA.
      Great White Melrose is the third outpost from Cooper and business partner Sam Trude, following locations in Venice Beach and Larchmont Village”I have always enjoyed this part of West Hollywood, which seems to seamlessly connect all of the different worlds within it such as entertainment, nightlife, tourism, etc,” said Cooper.
      “There is a real energy about this space and the surrounding area and we are excited to tap into that with Great White Melrose.”
      Other hospitality projects to open recently in LA include Hotel Per La, designed by Jaqui Seerman in a neoclassical building.
      Last year, we rounded up six of the best restaurant designs in California.

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