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Modellus Novus completes Frenchette Bakery redesign at the Whitney Museum of American Art

2023-11-10T12:07:00-05:00

Modellus Novus has completed its redesigned new Frenchette Bakery space at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

The project replaces the museum’s closed original USHG Restaurant on the ground floor with a new café that serves as the first flagship for the popular West Side eatery, which opened in October of 2020.

The plan retains as much of the open concept intended by Renzo Piano for the new eight-year-old museum, confounding a sense of interiority to “create connections between diners and their surrounding community.” Artist Rashid Johnson’s site-specific installation New Grace completes the design, complementing a 70-foot central light fixture above the bar that's made from wood and rice paper.

Photo by Adrian Gaut, courtesy Modellus Novus

The Whitney says the Bakery will help recharge their improved food and beverage program and will be joined later by an eighth-floor space also designed by the firm for 2024. Modellus...

Dan Brunn Architecture completes second Coffee for Sasquatch location as an escape from the ‘concrete jungle of New York City’

2023-10-20T11:29:00-04:00

Dan Brunn Architecture has completed a coffee shop for Sasquatch in New York City’s Nolita neighborhood. As the coffee brand’s second location beyond its Los Angeles base, the cafe is designed to be a “forest of green in an urban environment of grays.”

Image credit: Brandon Shigeta

Externally, the cafe is defined by the ironwork of black window frames “reminiscent of an older New York.” As customers step inside, custom wallpaper by Flavor Paper and the artist James Jean seeks to create a calm landscape, with Jean re-interpreting the idea of the sasquatch creature’s forest through oversized vines, leaves, and flowers.

Image credit: Brandon Shigeta

The interior contains no direct lights, and instead sees every surface glow as a result of light “peering through hanging plants.” Hints of light also illuminate the edge of the white Corian wall above the barista bar. Behind the wall and counter, a fully stainless steel kitchen creates a clear distinction between...

SYN Architects reactivates rural Chinese village hall through an elegant vaulted extension

2023-05-03T10:58:00-04:00

Beijing-based SYN Architects has offered a look inside their recently-completed Tiangang Village ‘Living Room’ in Baoding, China. The project saw the renovation and expansion of an existing village committee building, as well as the reactivation of surrounding buildings and outdoor spaces.

Image credit: ArchiTranslator

The original committee building was comprised of five single-story arches and porches, as well as sloping roofs and brick walls, all of which were largely hidden from public view. Taking the arches as inspiration, the design team expanded the building through an extension of the arches, creating a series of trumpet-shaped volumes with a thin, curving concrete shell structure.

Image credit: ArchiTranslator

In addition to the enlargement of the original five arches, the team also created a similarly-scaled arched volume along the wall facing the street, creating a public space adjacent to the building, and providin...

Neri&Hu designs Blue Bottle Zhang Yuan Cafe within revitalized 19th-century residence in Shanghai

2022-12-27T15:25:00-05:00

Shanghai-based firm Neri&Hu has completed a café within a historic, 19th-century public garden noted for its Shikumen typology residences. Named Zhang Yuan, the site has recently reopened after a complete rehabilitation of its historic buildings.

As part of the revamp, coffee roaster and retailer Blue Bottle Coffee Company commissioned Neri&Hu to create a retail space in one of the old residences. With this project, the firm aimed to channel the Shanghainese balance between urban activity and leisure.

Image: Zhu Runzi

In accordance with historic preservation guidelines, the existing brick walls, doors, and windows of the original architectural façades and atriums were preserved. The café rises in the midst of these elements. Along the exterior wall of the old building, an elongated, alley-like space connects the main street to the atriums. Here, benches and small tables are lined against the windows and walls.

Image: Zhu Runzi

Neri&Hu worked to make the new structure as light as pos...

This Wes Anderson-designed bar is retro with a capital R

2015-05-08T13:53:00-04:00