Island Creek Oyster Bar Boston, Massachusetts
The design inspiration for this restaurant drew directly on the eponymous source of its shellfish: the creek flowing into Duxbury Bay where Island Creek Oysters are lovingly nurtured. The muted colors and textures of those Massachusetts coastal waters envelop guests as soon as they step in from bustling Kenmore Square, with its busy subway station, close to both Boston University and the Fenway Park baseball mecca. In the relatively tranquil interior, reclaimed snow fence planks have been repurposed to create adjustable shutters that filter daylight and views throughout the day and evening. Jet Mist granite bar and counter surfaces recall the shades of gray inside and outside oyster shells. Reclaimed white oak flooring and wainscot evoke the timber ribs of old oyster sloops. Banquettes are framed in bleached white oak, and their pale gray polyester-nylon upholstery is tufted in a pattern like that of the seats on oyster farmers' workaday motorboats. Lighting and ceiling treatment maintain the subtle reference to the Duxbury Bay environment. Much of the ceiling is covered in bands of Tectum painted dull silver. In the bar area, suspended cages of expanded wire mesh — like those that young oysters are grown in — contain acoustical batts. At the transition between the front and rear dining areas hangs a "chandelier" composed of 35 industrial downlights, similar to those in Oyster Creek's Duxbury wharf structures, contained in stainless steel cages that pick up glints from the fixtures inside them. The centerpiece of the restaurant's plan is the shucking station, with its highlighted display of oysters. It occupies a pivotal position along the length of the bar, which continues into the rear dining room, thus reducing the expectation of a more formal atmosphere there. In fact, many patrons choose to dine at the bar — in venerable oyster bar tradition. The restaurant's kitchens are on the floor above, and restrooms are available off the adjacent lobby of the Hotel Commonwealth. The ample wall areas in the rear dining room accommodate two distinctive but equally fitting installations. Covering one of these walls is a 38-foot-long photograph by Stephen Sheffield showing oyster cages in the bay at low tide — in an unexpectedly inverted image. Cladding the adjoining wall is an assemblage by the architects, displaying tens of thousands of oyster shells in galvanized steel mesh containers, each of its 23 roughly 2-foot-by-4-foot panels weighing some 300 pounds. The shells were collected by restaurateur Garrett Harker from several restaurants — his own and others. All of them were cleaned by hand and run through dishwashers to sanitize them, then stacked horizontally in these cages. The dedication of the restaurant to oysters is quietly but unmistakably confirmed.
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