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EDG's principal owner has worked with some of the biggest names in the restaurant and hotel business, from master chefs such as Wolfgang Puck, Eric Ripert and Bradley Ogden to luxury hotel brands such as Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts. Here, she predicts where they'll be taking design.
What makes Wolfgang Puck's fine dining restaurant and banquet space atop Reunion Tower and catering operation at Union Station (both in Dallas) a bellwether ?
For us, design starts with programming. At Reunion Tower, we worked to activate the experience and get food and beverages presented to the guest right away. From the host (station), one immediately encounters an illuminated glass bar to the left, and a wood-fire display kitchen to the right. We played with the idea of fire and ice here, using contrast and balance to give the space excitement and sensuality. We layered the experience as well as the materials and textures. This restaurant is 560 feet above street level, and its dining room sits on revolving floor plates. We were able to add a bar on the rotating platform, making it possible to visit this spectacular location for a drink and enjoy a 360-degree view of the Dallas cityscape.
How far can the see-and-be-seen trend go?
It stops at the point people feel they're on display. More projects will break up space with dividers that just offer a glimpse of an area within the restaurant. That could mean putting a private dining area inside a glass box, as we did at Yew at the Four Seasons in Vancouver. A strip of frosted glass at head height (when patrons are seated) affords the right amount of privacy. It also invites more inventive usage of vertical space. It's about developing not just different levels but different aesthetics with unique seating, tables and lighting confined to that destination.
What's ahead for hotel restaurants?
They're always challenging because they have to be all things to all people, all day and night. People don't want to see the hulk of the stainless-steel breakfast buffet equipment as the backdrop for their candlelit dinner, so designers have to build in flexibility. One way is to make spaces interactive with fireplaces, open kitchens and chef's tables. Bars are going to have to do double, even triple duty. We added an espresso/cappuccino maker to Yew bar in the Four Seasons Vancouver and pumped up the seating mix to make it work as a morning-to-afternoon coffee bar. You could also add a counter along the window to the display kitchen. It speeds up breakfast service and creates a special evening experience for guests who want to interact with the chef. Designers will be using the scale and intensity of lighting to change moods-for example, alternating big bold shapes over a bar with clusters of sleeker pendants above the tables.
What's changing most in 2009?
We see high-end chefs continuing to push fine dining further into a less formal, more dynamic arena. Design has to work with the menu to create an identity. So, we're designing bold statements, like the wine tower under the circular oculus skylight at Eric Ripert's 10 Arts in Philadelphia. This element parallels the big reputation of this signature chef. But it also provides a working wine display that supports the restaurant's program while creating interest and activity at the center of the space. We're being asked to be inventive about bringing the menu program to life in ways that entertain and surprise the guest.