Page 123 - AIT0618_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Michaelis Boyd, GB-London
Grundriss Zwischengeschoss • Mezzanine Floor Plan
Grundriss Erdgeschoss • Ground Floor Plan
Bauherr • Client Duddell’s
Standort • Location 9A St Thomas Street, GB-London
Nutzfläche • Floor space 500 m 2
Fotos • Photos Ed Reeve, GB-London
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More infos on page 185
RESTAURANT DUDDELL’S
IN LONDON
In central London, Michaelis Boyd Associates have
created a culinary destination for fans of Chinese cui-
sine. The venue is the former St Thomas' Church,
where Cantonese food is now served in an elegant
ambience. Dark wood and meter-high church windows
pay tribute to history, while contemporary forms and
expressive materials reflect the present.
B ritish cuisine enjoys a modest reputation among gourmets,
yet the capital city of London has numerous restaurants of
world-class quality. These, however, usually offer delicacies from other
parts of the world. This includes Duddell's, which is now
located between The Shard, a highrise building designed by Renzo
Piano in 2012, and London Bridge. Architects Alex Michaelis and
Tim Boyd designed the first branch of the starred restaurant
from Hong Kong in the interiors of the listed St Thomas' Church.
For almost 200 years, the brick building constructed by Thomas Cart-
wright in 1703 served as a church, was then used as a chap-
ter house and was later converted into offices for an insurance compa-
ny. The aim of the duo was now to breathe new life into the
building, to bring out its sacred effect, and to give the gastronomic con-
cept a contemporary ambience. The elaborately crafted back wall of
the altar made of dark wood, which continues along the
lower third of the walls, is omnipresent. The bar with an open dim
sum kitchen — a speciality of the restaurant — dominates the guest
room as a contemporary contrast. Tiles in bright turquoise blue as
cladding, terrazzo in delicate pink as counter top, and decorative brass
details as holders for glasses form an impressive spatial sculpture.
Daylight enters through the fourmeter high church windows opposite
the bar. Beneath, a blue leather sofa flanks the room, and in the area
in between, tables are available to enjoy the authentically prepared
Cantonese dishes. In order to increase the seating capacity, a gallery
level was installed in the room with a ceiling height of eight metres.
From up there, a further perspective overlooking the activities can
be experienced across a frameless glass balustrade and the custom-
made chandeliers. Where the original parquet could not be preserved,
a geometric pattern of differently coloured linoleum diamonds
enlivens the floor area and, like the carefully selected lamps that put
each zone in the right light, evokes the desired associations with 1960s
tea restaurants in Hong Kong.
AIT 6.2018 • 123