Le Bernardin New York, New York
The redesign of the celebrated seafood restaurant met a need to update the entire space. One key objective of the owner was enlarging the lounge, which had been little more than a waiting area, making it a destination in itself, with a relaxed dress code and a casual menu. The words of chef Eric Ripert to describe this new vision: convivial, warm, sexy, and serene. The first design decision was to retain the iconic teak ceiling, with major modifications to the lighting incorporated in it. Down-lighting now creates an essential pool of light on each table, complemented by up-lighting of surrounding surfaces to make the spaces seem less confined. The architects sought the effect of a glowing room in which patrons were immersed in an atmosphere of ambient light, offset by carefully orchestrated focal concentrations. Everything below the ceiling is new. The architects reconfigured the former entry to gain a new window looking into the lounge from the adjoining through-block passage, plus a view outward to a featured sculpture there. In the lounge, new seating includes banquettes, a design choice inspired by the theme of conviviality. The curved bar increases the convivial feeling and was designed so that the chef could prepare some plates there, in view of patrons — providing an appealing touch of “theater.” The tops of the bar and tables are onyx, and the maître d’s stand is clad in this same translucent material. The bar’s recessed front is surfaced with mother-of-pearl tiles. Colors throughout the restaurant are drawn from nature and associated with the exquisitely prepared seafood served — tones of driftwood, sand, and water. Screens of teakwood blocks, placed as backdrops around the perimeter, establish a kinship with the ceilings and contrast subtly with the whites and off-whites in the foreground. Scrims installed at the dining area windows, woven of fabric strips, dried vines, and metallic threads, modulate the view to the busy street outside and pick up light from the base of the wall. Screens of vertical, twisted aluminum strips with polished leading edges and a random brushed finish on their two broad faces, also up-lighted, produce a subtle shimmer. Where these occur along walls, they’re backed by fabric-covered acoustically absorptive panels. The custom-designed carpet combines silvery grays and pale browns in a curvilinear pattern of “pools.” Even the white onyx on some key surfaces includes subtle light brown veining. The painting at the far end of the dining room, “Deep Water No. 1” by Ran Ortner, was not commissioned for the space, but was a fortuitous find, perfectly dimensioned for its position here. As in many spaces designed by Bentel & Bentel, this work of architectural scale creates a window, in effect, on a solid wall.
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