Exterior Concept Rendering
Interior Concept Rendering
View of Kitchen from Booth
View from Entry
View from Kitchen
Interior Concept Rendering
View from Banquette
View of Booths and Wall Panels
View from Bar
SHUKETTE - RESTAURANT IN CHELSEA, NYC.
In 2019 we collaborated with our longtime client, The Bowery Group, on Shukette, a new restaurant in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood.
Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja wanted Shukette to be a fun, “mischievous sis” to Shuka, our client’s downtown restaurant, but with its own distinct concept and menu. We drew our inspiration from our client’s travels and extensive knowledge of Middle Eastern cuisine to conceive a joyful and lively neighborhood restaurant showcasing locally sourced, sustainable, and shareable dips, mezze, breads, and other Levantine specialties. At Shukette, guests would be immersed in the sounds, the smells, and the energy of the kitchen and its cuisine.
Ten years ago we worked with Jim Lahey, master baker and chef-owner of Sullivan Street Bakery, to create the pizza-centric restaurant Company, and several years later, Sullivan Street Bakery Café, located 30 feet to the north. Both projects can be found on our website in WORKS. Shukette is located in the same space as Company and presented the opportunity to reconceive the new restaurant from scratch.
The design of Shukette is anchored by a central open kitchen and bar that presents all of the cooking as a theatrical performance. This is the antithetical approach to Company’s kitchen, which is concealed beyond the dining area. A sculptural object within the existing rectangular space, prominently visible through the large corner storefront windows, defines the kitchen area and conceals mechanical infrastructure and lighting. A large concrete counter that mirrors the sculptural shape above surrounds the cooking area and provides a third of the seating for guests. The rest of the seating occupies the perimeter of the space.
The finishes draw inspiration from the bold colors and flavors of the cuisine while complementing the existing elements of the space. Crisp and creamy whites, honey, charred wheat and buff, with pops of bright green, purple and red evoke the visual feast of freshly made breads, hummus, babaganoush, labneh and other dips, charred eggplant, charcoal grilled shawarma and other delicacies from the kitchen.
Playful pink and amber paint-dipped spherical glass table lamps sit atop the concrete counter. Yellow-moss linoleum sheets are set into the white oak tabletops and each is illuminated by a gracefully curved cast-concrete pendant light fixture. A modulated series of painted wood frames, filled with alternating panels of charred cork, a natural acoustically attenuating material, and vibrant cobalt-blue tiles, sweeps around the curving face of the kitchen soffit and along the perimeter walls. At the rear wall, mirrors are set into the wall frame, visually doubling the space, acting as a counterpoint to the storefront windows opposite them, and allowing the sculptural kitchen element to be seen from multiple vantages.
To distill the creative intent of the design and the welcoming spirit of the restaurant into a playful decorative element, a band of colorful hand-painted metal tiles is displayed along the full length of the curving kitchen soffit. The tiles depict the colors, patterns, foods, and people who inspired the vision for Shukette.
OPENING SOON
November 2020