Best of Year: Restaurant

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 12/1/2010 6:29:00 PM

Project: The Wright
Firm: Andre Kikoski Architect
Location: New York

After designing the espresso bar up in the rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum­—a simple ellipse of white Corian—Andre Kikoski returned to renovate the ground level’s 1,600-square-foot corner restaurant as part of the museum’s 50th-anniversary celebration. The trick was to reference Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic spiral without repeating it. So stacked curves became the order of the day. Tracing parallel lines across the back bar’s concave walnut paneling, internal fiber optics and LEDs light up translucent glass shelves. A stretched ceiling system created the triple boomerang shapes of the canopy above the bar. Descending from overhead to cover the wall behind the sweeping banquette, covered in vivid blue leather, is part of the Wright’s signature artwork: a site-specific installation by sculptor Liam Gillick, a friend whom Kikoski met through their sons at a local playground. The piece comprises dozens of horizontal aluminum planks powder-coated in various oranges­, yellows, and grays. It’s called The Horizon Produced by a Factory Once It Had Stopped Producing Views.

Merit Winners:


Project: Elements
Firm: Elliott + Associates Architects
Location: Oklahoma City
Standout: On the Chesapeake Energy Corporation campus, a tower built from steel louvers marks the entry to a staff restaurant with fiber-optic “fireflies” in the dining area.


Project: Breeze Café
Firm: Graft
Location: Las Vegas
Standout: At CityCenter’s Aria Resort & Casino, undulating forms overhead define poolside dining and lounging areas unified by a materials­ palette of stucco and Brazilian redwood.


Project: Collective
Firm: ICrave
Location: New York
Standout: An 11-person team of artists and artisans spent three months turning secondhand finds and other bargain items into ingenious seating, tables, and lighting.