The Restaurant & Bar Design Awards is said to be the only concept of its kind dedicated exclusively to design. Judged by a panel of top design, hospitality and lifestyle editors, both the designers and hospitality operators were recognized for design excellence across a wide variety of categories.
The Overall Winner for Best Restaurant is Galvin La Chapelle in London designed by designLSM, and the Overall Winner for Best Bar award is The Tote in India designed by Serie Architects.
The UK-based design firm designLSM has created a carefully balanced and understated interior for Galvin La Chapelle restaurant to enhance the beauty of the existing structure and compliment its details at every level. The site is a converted Grade II 19th Century Foundation School for Girls with a cathedral like interior. The enormity of the space in La Chapelle, 30 meters in height, provides breathtaking visual vistas across the restaurant. The Café De Luxe which houses the iconic Great Eastern Bar has been designed to offer a more casual dining experience. Galvin St Botolphs provides three offers – La Chapelle in the main dining hall, Café De Luxe, an all day offer, and the connecting Aperativo Bar.
The Tote in Mumbai, India includes a banqueting hall, restaurant and bar, designed by Serie Architects. The firm has offices in London, Mumbai and Beijing. Serie has transformed a series of disused buildings from Mumbai’s colonial past into a series of restaurant and bars. The interesting aspect of the site is the open spaces covered by mature Rain Trees. These spaces are shaded throughout the year by the thinly wide spread leaves of the Rain Trees, allowing almost the entire proposed program to occur outdoors. The design firm has created a continuously differentiated space, with no clear boundary, into the envelope of the conservation building. Each dining program is captured within a different spatial volume, defined by the variable degree of the branching structure.
The tree structure was designed to be a steel truss. The truss geometry was altered for smooth branching to reduce the number of weld joints. The final product conceals the fabrication method and appears to be a system of curved sections. The interior of the Lounge Bar on the upper level is an intricate arrangement of three-dimensional, faceted wooden paneling, acoustically treated with sound proofing material. The faceted paneling is finished in walnut veneer with bronze channels making up the tree pattern.
Other Category Winners are Independent Restaurant: Galvin La Chapelle (London), designLSM; Multiple Restaurant: Canteen (London), In-House Design; Independent Bar or Club: theCUT (Newcastle), Julian Taylor Design Associates; Multiple Bar or Club: Bangalore Express Bar (London), Outline Restaurant; Bar or Club in another space: Urban Reef (Boscombe), Macaulay Sinclair; Restaurant or Bar in a hotel: Elliot’s (Edinburgh), Ian Springford Architects; Café or Fast Food: Outsider Tart (London), David Lesniak; Identity & Website Design: The Draft House (London), Studio Frith; Lighting Scheme: Sound (Thailand), Inverse Lighting; International Restaurant: Pio Pio (USA), Sebastian Mariscal Studio; International Bar: TheTote (India), Serie Architects.
In its second year, the award program attracted nearly 400 entries from over 38 countries worldwide.
