Dining Pavilions

New York, NY

When such a large percentage of the city’s population was quarantined or left the city due to COVID-19, our communities fell out of equilibrium. The city reacted, giving ailing restaurants the opportunity to make better use of public amenities such as sidewalks and parking spaces. Restauranteurs and longtime collaborators and clients–Charlie Bird and Pasquale Jones–took advantage of this opportunity and asked us to design outside dining that enabled them to offer service through all seasons while also meeting COVID protocols. Working with students from Living City Project’s CityLab who were studying the challenges faced by the hospitality industry during the pandemic, we designed heated pavilions that allow for flexibility depending on the state of the pandemic, the season, and diners’ perception of safety with elements that can be added or removed to adjust for needed shelter, airflow, and privacy. A simple structural system creates an uncluttered backdrop against which colors and textures echo the restaurants’ interiors and highlight the dining experience.

These pavilions are a small but meaningful contribution to bringing stability back to our city, providing a solution that is not only beautiful, but also semi-permanent, economical, and designed to weather time–from winter snowplows to summer heat, to graffiti artists and pandemic uncertainty.

These Dining Pavilions were one of the featured projects included in the 2021 AIANY Interiors Committee Speed Presentations.