La Dolça of Tickets Restaurant: El Equipo Creativo

La Dolça, the new gastronomic space in Tickets Restaurant, is the result of the successful collaboration between the duo of chefs Albert and Ferran Adrià and the Iglesias brothers over the past four years. The continued evolution and success of Tickets Restaurant required an extension, bringing forth La Dolça, the new space dedicated solely to desserts. For its design the Adrià brothers once again chose who designed the original Tickets.

After a dinner full of surprises in Tickets, guests are invited to “put the icing on the cake” by having dessert in La Dolça. The new space aims to embrace the visitor and carry them to the magical universe of children’s stories where sweets have a special importance, like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.

Just as in those fantasy worlds, everyday objects change scale, context and position, so they do in La Dolça, creating a surprising and fantasy world… and perhaps, making us feel like children once again.

From above, the ceiling is the real protagonist in the design, receiving the guest with an explosion of colour: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries and giant flowers envelop the space offering a unique and magical atmosphere.

At a more accessible level for guests, the furniture has been specifically designed for La Dolça. Each piece contributes to the forms of the scenography. White paper doilies are used for the various pastries and are the recurring theme for the design of the tables. The doilies on the tables also serve as filters, through which bright spotlights draw a mottled collage of lights and shadows across the floor.

While drawing from the bustling spirit of Tickets Restaurant, La Dolça also offers a sweet, fantastic counterpoint: from the roguish world of the Paral.lel Avenue to which Tickets pays homage to an imaginary world seen through the eyes of a child.

Parq Restaurant & Nightclub, Davis Ink

Parq Restaurant and Nightclub creates an experience from the moment guests enter, to the time the night is over. Designed by Davis Ink, the brand new restaurant and nightclub leads guests through a park-like atmosphere. The designers created the ‘Parq’ theme to make the whole space a playground for adults.

The restaurant and nightclub share the same entrance, so the designers utilised this as an opportunity to combine experiences. The focus was on going from an outdoor, informal, organic space and transitioning into a highly theatrical and visually stimulating environment.

At the unassuming entrance are two large, glass, roll-up garage doors, (above) leading to a custom-designed ‘biomorphic shaped vertical garden’ filling the space with various greenery. Organic and raw materials define the space, including evergreen yucca trees, reclaimed wood and plant life.

The aim of the Vertical Garden is to create a street presence in San Diego. The designers wanted it to be ‘highly dramatic but at the same time very inviting and organic,’ creating a teaser for whats inside. Natural elements form a contrast between themselves and the industrial structure, where aged brick and mesh are exposed.

The restaurant is the beginning of a magical journey into the park with exaggerated garden elements such as LED trees, curvilinear industrial trellises enclosed by ivy, and decorative iron gating set into concrete.

On the right, is the restaurant’s very own ladies lounge equipped with floor to ceiling tufted upholstery, backlit perfume boxes, and custom oversized hand mirrors.

The restaurant bar houses a custom mirror and Edison bulb feature with a central candelabra sculptural element. It also acts as the private bar for the ladies lounge with it’s own window accessible only to those inside.

The bar is composed out of the materials you would find in a park such as concrete, greenery, an iron gate, reclaimed wood and peeled white washed wood. It features custom mirrors and clusters of yucca trees.

Open space in the restaurant welcomes guests to wander through it, inviting visitors to wander on, towards the night club space.

A tunnel becomes a transitional, low ceiling compressed space, breaking into a huge open ceiling. A stroll through this compact stone tunnel, lit by flickering chandeliers forms a route through to the main space of the nightclub.

Parq Nightclub

This theme of contrasting typical park elements such as concrete flooring, exposed brick, and green, garden elements was also brought into the nightclub: mixing rich, reclaimed wood paneling with raw industrial steel. The tunnel itself bridges the two spaces together with glimmering chandeliers juxtaposed with old stone walls and antique mirrors.

The nightclub takes exaggerated garden elements and adds more luxurious textures such as velvet booth upholstery, warm walnut wood tones, and stone, mixing it with theatrical components.

For example the custom metal tree branch dividers at the 40’-0” long bar with backlit agate stone imagery transferred to acrylic which plays with the idea of organic and modern technology.

The circular bar in the nightclub was designed with an custom soffit composed of undulating silver wood beams, and a black and white chevron tile bar face. The main bar features a backlit purple agate acrylic panel bar face, with a thick black granite bar top frame.

This space uses contrasting textures and colours to entice the senses such as custom patchwork booth upholstery inspired by one of Davis’ vintage jackets and an alternating black and white stripe restroom creates a contrast that is sure to leave a lasting impression.

A cluster of acrylic tubes refract light in a soft glow at the back wall which wraps around from the wall overhead to the ceiling above. The custom staggering tube lighting was created using frosted acrylic tubes combined with theatrical lighting allowing them to pulse to the music.

The three gold-leaf ‘branch pendants’, over the VIP booths were an example of combining organic with sexy and sophisticated. The lighting design for the entire interior was created by Steve Lieberman, of SJ Lighting Inc. Designers used lighting to emphasise all of the architectural features such as LEDs lining the main bar’s champagne display boxes.

With hundreds of individual wood boxes, each bottle is outlined with LED lighting that frames the main bar. This bottle display which dances around the existing window openings above the main bar creates three arches, satisfying the historical requirements of the job, while creating an opportunity for a sculptural back bar.

The champagne display boxes are outlined in led pixel tape so they can work with the music, spell out words, and create a visual light show. All lighting was designed to work independently setting moods, or to work as part of the light show in conjunction with the music.

Overall, the most effective part of this project design was the creation of two very different spaces with different experiences, that can both work independently but also work together as a whole.

Dalloyau: 
Yabu Pushelberg

The entrance to the first Dalloyau location in Hong Kong is captivatingly dramatic. Visitors are greeted by a custom multi-dimensional golden gate measuring 3m high by 4.7m wide. Devised from an 1802 hand-drawn map of Paris, the year in which the first Dalloyau shop opened in that city, the gate acts as a nod to the history of the brand. It also sets the tone for the experience within and provides an instantly recognisable, impactful first impression. Crafted in three layers of brass forms, the negative space becomes the streets and pathways of Paris. When open, the reflective pattern stands in striking contrast against the white marble façade of the store.

In the café, a gracious mural wraps the perimeter of the room. Hand-painted on canvas in a watercolour style, mottled red and pink roses are accented with youthful, tattoo-like line-work. Sections of chainmail curtain create a sense of depth as hammered brass rods anchored from the floor add architectural definition; the conceptual cage-like effect is reminiscent of a modern garden greenhouse.

A monolithic, curved bar in matte dark grey marble with red veining stands in contrast with sky blue upholstered banquettes and soft, rounded stools. At the far end of the room, French doors leading to the adjoined dining room are detailed with a gold-leaf pattern visually linking them back to the massive gold gate at the entrance to Dalloyau Hong Kong.

The overall Dalloyau Hong Kong is compartmentalised into four zones, the shop, café, dining room and garden, each distinctive in colour and theme. Richly detailed and textural, the design takes subtle cues from the French provenance of the brand. Bespoke finishes, distinctive materiality and custom furnishings together form the environment’s unique signature.

Darker, moodier and more intimate feeling, the fine dining room elicits a more romantic tone. Each surface is carefully detailed, from the fumed-oak rose-patterned ceiling, custom furnishings, plum glass and mahogany wine cellar, to mirrored walls and hand-painted murals. Opposite a full wall of windows leading to the outdoor garden, curved booths flank the wine cellar. Each compartment’s walls are adorned with chiaroscuro murals of mysterious, whimsical forest scenes in rich, vivid blues, browns, greens and hints of red, punctuated with gold. Adjacent walls are clad in black glass inset with gold metal mesh.

Views out to the garden and the Hong Kong harbour beyond are framed by flowing curtains and mirror laminated with gold metal mesh. The contrast of light and dark materials and finishes is punctuated with vintage decorative wall sconces, gifted by the designers.

In the private dining room, walls are wrapped in back-lit laser-cut metal panels designed to mimic traditional moulding. Suspended above the custom dining table is a pair of sculptural hand-formed woven wire nest-like pendants.

Sculpted and modern, the custom furniture collection for Dalloyau references classic French Colonial styling. Softly rounded edges on banquettes are mimicked in the silhouettes of dining chairs as well as upholstered stools in the café. Gentle curves are juxtaposed against linear geometric form; a recurrent hexagonal shape is found in table and dining chair bases, purse stools and custom wine buckets, in either blackened steel or brushed brass. Reflective glass, lacquer and metal are moderated with rich custom fabrics.

Uncle, St Kilda 

Foolscap Studio

Uncle is a casual restaurant, bar and rooftop split onto two floors in St Kilda, serving Vietnamese street food. A key factor in the new design and refurbishment by Foolscap Studio was balance and harmony.

The design studio were called in on Uncle’s 12 month anniversary to rework the space, as “the two spaces had a split personality that wasn’t working,” said front-of-house manager Rene Spence.

This distinct difference from bar to restaurant now acts as a complementary process: the downstairs bar channelling the buzz and atmosphere of a Vietnamese city-scape at night, and the upstairs restaurant employing the simplicity and freshness of the Vietnamese countryside.

Uncle is a term used throughout Vietnam to show endearment and respect, and similarly, the concept was designed to pay homage to the cultural nuances of Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

There is hanging-basket style lighting, above the bar which are hand woven, recycled, hawker-style plastic hats, that have been re-purposed as light fittings. The undulating canopy of light fittings was intended to bring a lightness and colour to the space.

Complementary to this, the dining area is characterised by a more expansive atmosphere. Taste elements of sour and spicy are visually interpreted as wood and earth and are evident in the use of lighter timber and wood textures and flourishes of indoor greenery.

Taking the elements of Wu Xing – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – to inform the design of both the bar and dining spaces, a colour palette and materials were extrapolated from each element.

Bitter, spicy and salty were the characteristics chosen for the bar, conceived as a more intimate, urban space. It is distinguished by a darker colour palette with highlights of red and a textural reference to metal, steel and fibres; such as the custom wallpaper created in-house, using the texture of woven rattan.

The images on the wall are custom prints. These ‘paste ups’ are a reference to the notion of the street and were taken from found images from Vietnam, including family photos and personal artefacts of chef and co-owner, Dai Duong. The images were then scaled and pasted on-site by artist Mark Gody.

The personality and sociability of Dai Duong, Rene Spence and Bowen Holden naturally meant the inclusion of local artists and designers to help bring the space to life. Waiters wear handmade leather aprons by Wooten, and the colours of hand-thrown ceramic crockery by Fork Ceramics help link the cuisine to the interior space.

The Room: 

LAI Studio Architects

The Room is an exclusive club located in the heart of Milan’s Porta Romana with a New York atmosphere and fresh redesign by Lai Studio.

With an area of 350 square meters and a small outdoor area outside, The Room presents a tasteful architectural structure on two levels. It is an imposing, post-industrial space, full of characteristic style, accompanied by a reinterpretation of street food which makes The Room a multifaceted place made of taste, art and talent.

Previously a corporate office, the space has been remodelled to fit in a semi-transparent kitchen, hidden by a large, backlit bar with counter and a tall shelf for bottles. This then extends up to the ceiling, expanding in an intricate three dimensional ‘cloud’ of lights that fill the vast space above the bar.

The bar itself forms part of the lighting design concept, where many of the lighting sources are embedded into various custom made structures. The Room restaurant and club has a mezzanine floor overlooking the dance floor, dominated by an imposing staircase and the main entrance with cloakroom, glows with warm lighting to welcome patrons.

The split dining areas each have their own formidable chandeliers – a square-frame wire mesh chandelier on one side and the second, a more classic chandelier, with hundreds of hanging candle lamps at varying heights.

All the tables are custom made at different heights, with armchairs and stools that have been chosen from Italian manufactures for great international design and to offer an interesting selection of modern-classic seating options.

A combination of materials are used to great effect throughout the space including: metal mesh, coupled glass, bamboo boards, custom prints on the walls and of course the LED strips for the lights.