La Brasserie
From MaterialProject.org, the free architectural material catalog
After a fire destroyed Philip Johnson's original design for the La Brasserie space in the Seagram Building, Elizabeth Diller and her husband Ricardo Scofidio were selected to create a space that would do justice to the Twentieth Century Bauhaus masterpiece by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Diller and Scofidio are often associated with an alternative form of architecture that unites cultural and architectural theory and criticism with design, performance and electronic media. Although this was an unlikely project for the architect couple they simply could not pass up the opportunity to work withing such a prominent New York City building.
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Building information
Designer: Diller and Scofidio
Program type: Restaurant
Project budget: $200/sq.ft.
Project Address:
Seagram Building,100 E 53rd St
New York, NY 10022
Building analysis
The design of La Brasserie is intended to emphasize the social aspects of dining. From the moment you enter the space from street level they stress the importance of "making an entrance" with video snapshots that are triggered by passing through the revolving doors and are displayed along 15 LCD screens across the expanse of the bar. There is also a theatrical decent into the maind dining space via floating glass stair treads, as to be on display once again. The dining room is divided into three distincts areas, all full of textures, unique surfaces and hidden lighting. The interior space is lined with skins of wood, terrazzo, tile and glass. These liners often lift from their surfaces to become structural, spatial and functional components to the dining room.
Banquette Seating Detail
- the banquette seating, flanking the east wall of the dining room, is a series of private, slanted, tufted green leather partition walls.
- the partitions appear to be sprouting from the floor, but are bolted into the ground, and are supported by steel legs on the reverse side.
- seating is cantilevered from the partition wall and from the steel legs, as are the resin tables which are cantilevered from the adjacent wall.
- The slanted partitions and the cantilevered seats are at best guess comprised of 1/8" bent steel and 1/2" plywood, held together by wood screws. 2" foam padding and leather upholstery is then applied for the finished look.
Bent Seating Detail
- Diller and Scofidio's [1] renovation has created an entirely new space in the difficult context of a historical building with a famous past. The two architects have managed to come up with a separate place which has a strong character of its own. Spaces are clearly divided up without useless irregularity or easy oversimplification. Materials, such as the warm reddish wood combined with the “light beams” contribute to creation of a bright, cosy atmosphere.Furniture details have been carefully studied and every item is a work of art in itself making La Brasserie as elegant as it is contemporary, perfect for accompanying Mies' Seagram Building into the twenty-first century.
- The metal framework for the seat is covered with flexible plywood and finished with a wood textured laminate. These thin "liners" often lift from their surfaces to become structural, spatial and functional components. The back panels follow the same philosophy as the seat and are lit as they overlap with the seat.
- The madrone floor peels up while the pearwood ceiling peels down and is molded into seating as part of a continuous wrapper around the main dining space.The Pearwood skins in the rear dining room peel from the plaster ceiling and wall to become free-floating partitions which delaminate into illuminated veneers.
References
Notes
Student contributions
- Blair Dubak, Spring 2008
- Harshita Merchant, Spring 2008
External links
Additional resources
