A new concept in food, STOCK tc is designed as a holistic, gastronomic experience.
INNOVATION:
A theatre of food, from raw to refined is the inspiration for equal treatment of the architecture. Just like the offerings for consumption, installations of wood, metal, glass, and concrete are interpreted in degrees of raw or unrefined in the ground level market and ‘tavola calda’ to refined states as one moves up to the second-floor bistro, and further to the third-floor garden room and terrace. The stacking of these three spaces, and the charged thresholds between them, reinforce the parallel food and design concepts as one moves from the street to the roof terrace in the repurposed heritage structure.
CREATIVITY:
Two main design drivers allowed us to create a unique hospitality architecture. The first is a strategy of lining existing perimeter walls with new layers of material expression that sit spaced and in contrast to the shell of the existing structure while providing shelving, lighting and acoustic dampening textures. The second is the strategic omnipresence of food preparation with a clear ‘back stage’ treatment. A series of theatrical prosceniums announce the threshold between front- and back-of-house that when transgressed, patrons have a privileged view to the creative food process, from raw to refined.
FUNCTIONALITY:
The three-storey hospitality experience begins on ground level which introduces the experience as a kind of relaxed but intoxicating kitchen and pantry, filled with personally selected comestibles such as sundries, dried goods, fresh produce, specialty items, and flowers. Anchored by large butchery and bakery counters, the space is collected under an overarching proscenium. Aromas and glimpses to the ‘back-stage’ kitchens lead patrons to ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook takeaway counters and seating for lingering to enjoy the fresh offerings on the spot. Up the winding stair to the second-floor bistro, an orchestra of kitchens is open to the gallery of tufted banquettes and cork paneling. The island bar is well-stocked and designed to bridge the day-time to night-time bistro experience. Above the bistro is a purpose-built, glass garden room. Almost 100 seats of the main dining room are flexible to accommodate arrangements for various functions all year round. The exclusive event space takes full advantage of its roof-top view, and is surrounded by a lush terrace along the vintage cornice of its host building.
SUSTAINABILITY:
STOCK tc repurposes the evacuated Postal Station K, a 1930’s masonry landmark building. The project almost literally breathes new life into the vintage structure and allows new interior interventions to work with building environmental systems to increase insulation and ventilation to optimize energy efficiency. Window shading systems, including the replacement of ground floor window awnings, are instrumental in limiting heat gain and therefor cooling loads.