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Architects: studio gram
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Jonathan VDK
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Lead Architects: Graham Charbonneau, Dave Bickmore
Text description provided by the architects. Fugazzi is an Italo-New York-inspired bar and dining room that blurs the line between today and yesterday. That moment of déjà vu begs the question, have I been here before? An overnight institution where velvet, leather, marble, inlaid geometric scraps, and custom joinery shelves are layered to create a decadent and luxurious atmosphere designed to invoke a sense of nostalgia.
A romantic, textural representation of the past, that simultaneously manages to remain firmly rooted in the contemporary. Is its bold character a physical manifestation of the Italians’ age-old gift of making art out of life, or is it just Fugazzi?
The hospitality brief was for an elevated style of dining, drinks, and nibbles in the bar on arrival, and long stays in the dining room, where guests are welcome to sink into the plushness of the booths. The bar and the restaurant are altogether different experiences that serve to unite the whole, yet thrive as individual offerings. The bar is rich in its materiality, and much darker in its execution, allowing users to ‘hide’ in the corners from day through to night. The restaurant is much brighter, with carefully curated art and styling pieces, and an elevated level of comfort.
The custom joinery pieces finished predominantly in a high gloss red, and with circular details expressed in both concave and convex forms serve to unify the two spaces through a shared detail with differing executions. As a whole the space feels made for the future, an all-encompassing experience through service, food, drink, and fit-out. The project demonstrates a unification of hospitality concepts and fit-out. A sound understanding of an elevated experience.
The resolution of the planning was key to meeting the brief. The original entry point was shifted south to introduce an accessible entry that the original restaurant was lacking. Managing this new, narrow entry space to create a useable bar that does double time as a service bar for the restaurant and operates as a stand-alone offering was the key to unlocking the site.
The typical raised bar separating drink making from consumption has been removed to reveal the craft behind the drink and the hospitality. To create a bar that is as much about the service and presentation as it is about the making. A bar that truly engages with the patron. The restaurant provides exclusive banquette and booth seating to elevate the comfort levels to align with the quality of the offering. Removing the classic ‘bad seat’.
