ONS EATING - DRINKING

Refurbishment restaurant - bar

In the new cross section of the building the housing is distinctive as a compact archetypal volume that short-circuits straight through the catering floors to the street. The sculptural staircase to the housing units dominates the interior of the café, but it is exclusively accessible to the residents. In this way the housing is present in the establishment and for the clients the question remains: what us the purpose of the staircase? On the second floor a washing-up kitchen, disconnected from the residential floor, creates a shaft thereby illuminating the rear areas of the first floor. The staircases are juxtaposed in such a way that the light pours through in front of the toilets in the basement.

The first floor is reserved for the more formal restaurant section. A small table with a chair on either side forms the basis of each restaurant arrangement and is considered here as a single piece of furniture. The synthesis of the table and chair forms an element that also defines the territory of the 'occupants'. The tables can be placed closer together without causing discomfort.
On the ground floor alcoholic beverages play the main role, but food is also served here. The café and restaurant converge here by combining the bar and the tables into a fourteen-meter long wooden table that incorporates diverse characteristic café and restaurant arrangements. This old table bar creates sitting accommodation and standing and lying opportunities for social and solitary eaters and drinkers. There is always adequate seating at the table bar because the manner of seating is only loosely defined. The height of the entire element is 90cm, a height precisely in between table and bar height and corresponding with the ideal working height. All manner of people draw up a chair. Staff, clients and the DJ transform the table bar into the embodiment of a 'One of us' atmosphere