Bars, Clubs and Cafés
Gold: Studio Richard Lindvall, Bad Lab Beer Co
In 2017, a couple of beer enthusiasts set up Bad Lab Beer Co, an independent brewery in the historic city of Somersworth, a little over 100km north of Boston.
My client wanted to steer away from the design references found in typical American brewpubs and create an accessible restaurant and tap room that puts sensorial discoveries and community at the heart of guest experience.
I envisioned a paired-down space that functions as a framework where beverages, foods and people converge – a minimalist living room where the three factors merge against a toned-down backdrop.
The already existing industrial building came with elements like concrete flooring, a black industrial ceiling and windows with black steel frames. I wanted to build around the original details only adding a few materials to accentuate and compliment the simple and industrial feeling of the space.
The 400sqm space includes a stainless steel brewery that guests can spot through glass panels, a stainless steel open kitchen that runs a full length of one of the walls creating an eye-catching feature as the light that shines in through the extensive windows bounces off it, a bar made of concrete and stainless steel, a dining area furnished with cast iron tables with light grey Valchromat tops and black wire chairs, a lounge area and a beer tasting area.
To add some warmth, the classic brown colour of beer bottles was a reference when selecting the brown leather for upholstery.
Silver: Archistry Design & Research Office, Quad House
It is 100 years since this building stood in the Qianmen, the center of Beijing. It has been reconstructed sympathetically into a secret bar hidden in the Hutong. Choosing concrete to build an arch façade, the designer washed the arch concrete template when the concrete set, and combined this in second floor façade. Wood and other materials were used to make the semi-circular box railing, with the lighting inside coming from a circular light.
Entering through the small glass hallway, guests will find the bar’s lobby. All the materials were handmade to avoid the use of modern materials. The designer removed the decoration and carefully excavated and organized the scene, filling in the gaps of space with modern materials.
Passing the lobby, through the corridor, the space suddenly opens up, reaching the courtyard, or the Quad House, meaning a private place surrounded by houses on each side. Up the stairs, reaching the second floor and turning to the south, there is a large independent private room with a steel structure for reinforcement. Turn north on the second floor and there is a balcony. Staying on the balcony, seeing the waving roof from north and south, people can see the ancient Qianmen Tower, the Great Hall of the People and the CBD building, which will be another 500 meters high, making people feel a little surreal in this unique place.
Bronze: DC Design, The Sky Tea House
Completed in January 2018, the project is a renovation on a 200sqm tea house in Fuzhou, China. The first and second floors of the previous house were independent to each other, which looked too separated and unconnected. So, the designers broke through the ground of the second floor, which enables guests to catch some but not all scenes on the upper floor, thus achieving the restrained beauty of traditional oriental buildings. What’s more, the roof was also rebuilt by decomposing and restructuring methods to show the appearance and charms of traditional houses in the south part of the Yangtze River.
The owner of the house is fond of gathering rare stones and also a tea supplier. Several natural stones were put inside the house. With the wonderful appearance of these stones, together with the traditional landscaping techniques, and the changes among layers of light, shade and space, great aesthetic effects of calmness and conservation were created.
Design of the whole space focuses on the release and convergence of materials, lights and artistic conception. It perfectly illustrates the essence of internal serenity and external quietness without leaving any traces. It totally refreshes the vitality of the house, making the traditional history and the modern culture collide and integrate here and creating the unique romance of ancient lanes and paths.
Restaurants
Gold: Linehouse, John Anthony
John Anthony is a contemporary dim sum restaurant located in Hong Kong. The story behind this new initiative by Maximal Concepts is drawn from historical figure John Anthony, the first Chinese man to be naturalized as a British citizen in 1805. John Anthony, an employee of the East India Company, embarked on the voyage from the East to West arriving in Limehouse, the east end docklands of London. There his job was to ensure lodgings and food for arriving Chinese sailors and he became the father of Limehouse’s Chinatown.
The restaurant’s design drew on John Anthony’s journey, exploring the fusion of architectural styles and materiality between East and West with colonial architecture blurred with eastern detailing, to create a British tea hall turned Chinese canteen.
The main dining hall in the restaurant is an interpretation of the storehouses in the docklands. The modern vaulted space plays on verticality, lightness and has a sense of whimsy with circular canopy columns in a dusty pink lacquer and white metal arches.
Linehouse explored the materials John Anthony would have encountered on his journey including hand glazed tiles, natural and racked renders, terracotta, hand dyed fabrics and hand woven wickers.
At the heart of the venue is Maximal Concepts’ sustainable message, woven into every aspect of the interior and operations. From upcycling wasted plastic and paper into coasters and menus, to tiling floors with reclaimed terracotta tiles sourced from abandoned houses in rural China and using highly sustainable rattan, every element incorporates an eco-friendly or ethical initiative.
Silver: Cadena + Asoc. Concept Design, Mucho
Welcome to a place where traditional Mexican flavors are reconfigured and united with nature and gusto, in an authentic environment. Its hybrid language is the base of a timeless experience, presenting a product that reconfigures the flavors and traditions of Mexican gastronomy while observing them from a fresh perspective.
The contemporary “Mexicanity” is a tale with a profound historical background, multicultural perspectives and global vision that conveys the encounters of what is written and tomorrow’s possibilities.
Mucho® is a concept inspired by Mexican food establishments’ many formats: permanent and ephemeral that in coexistence, full of countless textures and materials that pay homage to Mexico’s ingenuity and inventiveness. Mucho® is a fresh look to the vibrant, contemporary, and stereotype-free Mexican culture.
Bronze: Tom Mark Henry, C.C. Babcoq
C.C. Babcoq is a fun and quirky fit out for a 170sqm rotisserie, carvery and cocktail bar in Cronulla, completed 12 December 2018. The namesake C.C. Babcock from 1990s’ TV show The Nanny is a little sassy and bold. Her personality was adopted for the interiors, with a fusion of coastal influences to reference the beachside location.
Located in a beautiful art-deco building, the heritage of the site was referenced by repeating the curves of the building in the interior design. Curves were used in the shape of the counter, soft edges on seating and design details such as terrazzo floor inlays. High quality, yet fun and durable materiality was employed, in particular, the stand out feature being the green terrazzo bar. People come here straight off the beach expecting quality food so it needed to be a fine balance of casual, yet refined and also bring something a little unexpected.
C.C. Babcoq collaborated with a mural artist to inject colour and pattern onto the 4m-high rear wall. Lymesmith’s mural Rockpool is clearly visible from the street and stimulates the interest of the passers-by. The mural was designed with a light touch and it plays with the colour and material palette set by the interior design, without being imitative. Its abstract representation of an ocean rock pool, seen from above, is a response to the restaurant's seaside location in Cronulla.
Hotels, Bed & Breakfast Facilities and other Overnight Accommodation
Gold: Conran and Partners, PURO Kraków Kazimierz
Completed in August 2018, PURO is a new flagship hotel in the heart of Kazimierz, Krakow’s historic Jewish quarter. In recent years Kazimierz has re-emerged as a thriving hub for creativity, drawing a new generation of tourists to the area.
Our design concept ‘Bohemian Modern’, represents a ‘Bohemian’ fusion between the energy, history, authenticity and art culture of the location with the dynamic, progressive ‘Modern’ brand principles of PURO, by emphasising the brand’s passion for contemporary art, design-led furniture and forward-looking hospitality. This conceptual narrative provided a rich source of inspiration for the creation of a distinct PURO hotel firmly rooted in its location.
The design clearly references elements of the area’s past, including its industrial heritage, while maintaining a strong residential feel. The result is a hotel designed to welcome and encourage guests to inhabit the ground floor spaces through morning, noon and night.
The café, restaurant and bar incorporate a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces, with private pockets of space where guests can enjoy moments of tranquillity away from the bustle outside.
The overall scheme provides 228 guestrooms, with a wellness and fitness facility, breakout and lounge spaces, restaurant, bakery, workshop and events spaces.
PURO perfectly encapsulates the brand’s ethos, providing a creative and artistic environment that aims to be a benchmark for all future sites. The emphasis on art and creativity flows seamlessly through the hotel’s spaces and into the guest rooms with locally-inspired artwork including bold graffiti, cityscape collages and a neon-style light installation.
Silver: Ohlab, Can Bordoy
Can Bordoy is a small hotel with a magnificent garden located in the center of Palma de Mallorca. Finished on January 2019, it is a complete renovation of a 2,500sqm abandoned building that had been intervened throughout its more than 500 years of history.
The proposed program is intended to evoke the experience of visiting a house more than a hotel. Therefore, rather than being at a hotel reception, the clients meet at the entrance hall of the house, instead of a restaurant we find a residential dining room, the rooms and living rooms are like those you would find in an old house, etc.
The project carefully preserves the romantic and decadent atmosphere found in the building and is deliberately contrasted with interventions and elements from different epochs. The proposal is respectful intervention with the existing centenary architectural crossbreeding, maintaining the traces of the past and avoiding a false recovery of a glorious past that the house has never had.
A series of architectural strategies were designed and developed throughout the building as a collection of theatrical and distinctive contemporary interventions in dialogue with the existing building.
The eclecticism of the architecture is reflected in the furniture with pieces from very different eras and origins that coexist with contemporary furniture as a collection of beds and bars designed by OHLAB specifically for Can Bordoy.
Bronze: Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos, Solaz
The extraordinary natural surroundings of the peninsula of Baja California with its semi-desert landscape in shades of ocher, contrasting with the deep blue of the Sea of Cortes, provides an ideal selected context for the construction of a new landmark hotel for the country.
The integration between landscape, architecture, and art, Solaz Los Cabos covers a total area of 9.8 hectares along a section of the coast that includes unique topographical formations.
The project had to solve the different typologies of this hotel’s suites and rooms, the idea was that these emerge from the topography that merges harmoniously with the sandy beach.
One of the conceptual pillars of Solaz Los Cabos is the artistic intervention in many of the spaces. Here, Mexican artist Cesar López Negrete creates and exhibits over 400 works of art that commemorate the life and culture of Baja California in ancient times. His artistic vision complements each detail of the construction, at both the micro level and the macro level, in the appropriation of the space and the integration with the site.
Solaz in Los Cabos was intended to be an integrated landscape project, created in partnership with Gabayet 101 Paisaje. The palette of plants was complemented with further native species according to the landscape design and the intention of each space.
