AVONDALE
Westin Riverfront Resort in Beaver Creek, CO
Avondale, a full service hotel restaurant, captures and celebrates the essence of the Vail Valley at a unique setting; the entire perimeter of the restaurant interior space opens onto a terrace with dining, a bar, and comfortable seating around corten steel fire pits, designed by the architects. The roaring sound of the Colorado River running beneath the terrace, enhances the experience of the outdoor room enclosed by walls of the surrounding mountains. Inside the restaurant this view is experienced throughout the day, as the changing light quality and weather provide a natural theater. A variety of seating areas create different intimate settings in a larger open restaurant, including a table at a dramatic interior fire-pit. Important architectural elements are the ceiling and lighting fixtures, custom designed by the architects. An irregular grid of white oak establishes a geometric abstraction of the nature that is infilled with golden saffron hued sound dampening panels, and whose color is inspired by the turning leaves of the local Aspen trees. The lights, integrated with the grid, provide a discreet way to control the general level of illumination and to permit the ceiling to act as a reflector of outside light, that transitions from very light to much darker over the course of a day.
Project by Asfour Guzy Architects.