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Drew Deering: What is good restaurant design?
04 Jun 2004 by Jason Fried
Drew Deering, architect and long-time SvN reader, wants you to know something and wants to know something from you. This is posted on his behalf:
Little dosome of you Chicagoans probably know, over the next month Chicago is going to be invaded by designers of the built environment. The American Institute of Architects is having it’s National Conventionnext week, June 10-12. Necon, a huge trade show is held annually at the Merchandise Martfor the Interior Designerson June 14-16. Then June 24-27; a mixed group of planners, architects, government officials, and developers will be in Chicago for The Congress for theNew Urbanism convention. I find it strange that they are all happening the same month, but since Chicago is the center of modern design the location is a good choice.
So Metropolis Magazine is doing their annual ” Eat Here” for Chicago, mostly for Neocon. It is a list ofplaces to eat in Chicago recommended by designers and architects from Chicago. Not beingin Chicago, do you guys agree with list? For all of you people not in Chicago, I ask you this. What makes a restaurant good design? Is it the architecture of the room? The graphic design of the menu? The preparation ofthe food? The design as a whole?Can a locally owned “hole-in-the-wall” be good design, in its own vernacular way? Is there a nation chain that does good design? Me personally, I kind of like Chipotle.
11 comments so far (Post a Comment)
04 Jun 2004 | Marc M. said...
"but since Chicago is the center of modern design"
i don't mean to start a flame war or get off topic... but i am genuinely interestedhow is chicago the center of modern design?
- also an architect
04 Jun 2004 | matthew said...
i like the menu board at chipotle: choose this, choose that, move on down the line. simple and efficient. i also like the instructions on how to eat their burritos. as for hole-in-the-wall type places - i love a good booth. give me a booth and a relaxed atmosphere and i'm content.
04 Jun 2004 | Urbanchords said...
Chicago is home to the first modern skyscraper, Louis Sullivan , Frank Lloyd Wright, Sears Tower, John Hancock Tower, Mies van der Rohe, and the new IIT campus building by Rem Koolhaas, Lake Shore Drive Towers, and the recently saved Farnsworth House
Or even the City Beautiful Movement which is said to come to the forefront at the Columbia Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Which had a Japanese Pavilion which is said to have influenced Frank Lloyd Wright and the Greene and Greene brothers
04 Jun 2004 | JF said...
Where exactly is the Farnsworth House?
04 Jun 2004 | Jamie said...
JF, Farnsworth House is in Plano Illinois. http://www.farnsworthhousefriends.org/
04 Jun 2004 | One of several Steves said...
I moved away from Chicago better than two years ago now, so I'm out of date on restaurants up there. But some of the ones that immediately sprang to mind as good restaurants from a design perspective were on the list, including the first one that I thought of, Bin 36.
Good restaurant design, to me, first of all allows for comfort. Dining is a casual, social activity, and a restaurant needs to be conducive to that. It should feel inviting and encouraging of conversation. Tables should provide ample room for mutliple plates and glasses for each intended diner, as well as room between tables to allow people to get in and out, since adjacent tables will almost never arrive or leave simultaneously.
Decor should support the menu, in many ways. It wouldn't make sense to serve a Portillo's menu in a Nomi decor. A bold, adventurous menu should be mated with bold, adventurous design.
Oh, one other thing: Lighting. I've been in too many high-end restaurants where it seems to be a goal not to let diners see what they're eating. One, I kind of need to from a functional standpoint. Two, plate presentation is as much of the dining experience as the food itself, and it's a shame not to see that. Otherwise, just slop stuff on a plate like at the cafeteria.
Oh, and I agree that Chipotle is one of the best examples of good design in chain restaurants. One of the ones mentioned on the provided list, Bandera, is another one. Cosi, the sandwhich shop, also is nice.
05 Jun 2004 | Stephen said...
Good restaurant design is a comfortable seat which allows you to eat and chat. The rest is wallpaper. :)
05 Jun 2004 | let (yes, it's me) said...
i must admit that design is one of the top factors on my list when picking a restaurant to go to. i just love to be in a beautiful and thoughtful space. like the other day i went to the Green Zebra with JF. wow, you should've seen the floor layout, the floral arrangements, and even the zen rock garden at the vestibule.
beauty is the icing on the cake.
05 Jun 2004 | Eric said...
d.Kelley's is closed
08 Jun 2004 | August said...
Good restaurant design minimizes background noise. I have a hearing problem that causes me to, when in certain kinds of spaces (restaurants, lobbies, shopping malls, that kind of thing) I can't hear someone standing right next to me because the five people fifteen feet away are talking to loud (in other words, I can hear almost nothing but background noise in open spaces with bad acoustics), and most restaurants (especially tacky theme/chain restaurants, like Montana's etc. make it almost impossible for me to hear anything. I didn't always have this hearing problem, but I noticed the background noise thing then too. It's just worse now.
10 Jun 2004 | Don Schenck said...
My fav is our deck, by our pool.
Other than that ... what's better than french fries on the boardwalk ... pasta and wine overlooking the Bay ... an ice cream cone while strolling through the park ... ?
And catching snowflakes on your tongue!
