The threshold between outside and inside is one that we try to establish clearly, since it marks not only the point at which the guest has arrived — and at which point the hospitality service commences — but also expresses a relationship between the restaurant and the neighborhood in which it is located. We find it difficult to ignore the physical or social context of a restaurant within a neighborhood. Look at the front room of Gramercy Tavern that opens both to the dining areas in the rear and to the street (Figures 5 A,B). This room takes the glassy storefront as its fourth wall. The engagement of the room and the public space of the street is reinforced by a three- sided art piece that relies on the open "public" side for its completion.
Figure 5A: Gramercy Tavern: Plan
Figure 5B: Gramercy Tavern: Bar area with its fourth wall on the street
We were inspired by its name to think that the architecture of Gramercy Tavern should embed the restaurant in its urban context. Tavern has its root in the French taverne or the Italian taverna, a place that provided travelers with food and shelter. The association with travelers links it to areas of the city where its services are most needed, along major thoroughfares, near ports, stations, streets, places where natives mingle with foreigners and where community identity is forged through the ancient social practice of hospitality. From its Latin root, taberna or "hut," tavern derives its flavor as a common part of the building environment rather than something monumental or exotic and set apart. A tavern is properly located adjacent to a public place where insider and outsider meet. We recognized the subtle social messages restaurants convey again while working on The Modern, the restaurant at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It was one of our first restaurants located in New York Midtown business district. Through our prior work in the commercial districts of Lower Manhattan such as Gramercy Tavern and Craft, we came to appreciate the value of the plate glass storefronts to the character of our restaurants. The open façades — a historical artifact of the commercial storefronts that lined the streets of Ladies Mile — encouraged a visual connection to the passersby as we have seen at Gramercy Tavern. Midtown New York was different
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