The Wright Restaurant Opens in Guggenheim Museum
The walls and ceiling of the nearly all-white eatery features a colorful site-specific sculpture by of powder-coated aluminum planks by British artist Liam Gillick.
Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 12/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
Though it’s approaching the end of its year-long 50th anniversary celebrations, New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum isn’t through with the festivities yet: December 11 saw the grand opening of its newest restaurant, The Wright.
Named after the Fifth Avenue museum’s architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, the 58-seat restaurant was designed by Andre Kikoski Architect and features a modern American menu by David Bouley protégé Rodolfo Contreras featuring local seasonal dishes like seared diver scallops in sea urchin sauce and slow roasted suckling pig with quince and violet mustard.
“It was both an incredible honor and an exhilarating challenge to work within Wright’s iconic building,” said Kikoski. “Every time we visit, we see a new subtlety in it that deepens our appreciation of its sophistication. We sought to create a work that is both contemporary and complementary.”
“Inspired by and created within an institution renowned for its art, architecture and innovation, The Wright will extend that experience to its food and service,” adds the restaurant’s director, Aaron Breitman. “The Wright will appeal to neighbors seeking stylish and sophisticated dining as well as visitors who want to experience the thrill of New York in one of the city’s greatest cultural treasures.”
Centered on a communal table, Kikoski’s channeled Lloyd Wright’s iconic spiraling white design from 1959 in the nearly all-white 1,600-square-foot-space. Standouts include a curvilinear walnut wall layered with illuminated fiber-optics offsets a bar topped in seamless white Corian and clad in a shimmering skin of custom metalwork. A sweeping banquette is glammed up with vivid blue leather seating backed by illuminated planes of woven gray fabric underneath a layered ceiling canopy of taut white fabric.
The ceiling is also home to the restaurant’s signature artwork, a colorful site-specific sculpture of horizontal powder-coated aluminum planks by British artist Liam Gillick that marks the entrance and descends from overhead to cover the Wright’s walls—just like in the museum’s galleries.
Images courtesy of The Wright.
I think they missed out on the opportunity to utlize the floor of the restaurant. Perhaps a yellow or warm ornage tone rather than white would've warmed it up a bit and increased the amount of food people consume as well. People's apetite is stimulated by orange. It could've been warmer like Wrights architecture, it looks like they put Phillipe Stark and Wright together in a blender. Its okay for my taste but I can imagine how some wouldn't find it welcoming, also the bar in the center is really quite impersonal.
gigi - 2010-01-10 02:05:00 EST
It's rare that I feel physically ill when viewing new design, but this did it! Too much white for serenity, the blue on the banquette is too strong for the whites and grays and fights the multi-colors of the sculpture.
I've only been in the field for 57 years, so what do I know?! FLW must be turning over, etc.---
Sandy Schiffman, (former) ASID/IIDA/FIFDA - 2009-12-20 00:21:00 EST
I've only been in the field for 57 years, so what do I know?! FLW must be turning over, etc.---
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