SOFT OPENING

2010

Temporary Restaurant

300 SM

New York, USA

Whitney Museum of American Art

Lantern Fabrication: Kreysler & Associates

Furniture Fabrication: Atta Inc

Upholstery: Greg Georgi

Lighting: Doug Russell, Lighting Workshop

Engineering: Arup, New York

As part of 2010, the Whitney Biennial, INABA was commissioned to design a pop-up café located in the museum’s interior courtyard. The project consists of three (3) large-scale lanterns that occupy the courtyard’s double-height space, a 24-foot long service counter, communal tables, high-top counters and ‘droopy’ seat cushions.

However bold in form or expressive in materials, it was striking to us that postwar architecture is susceptible to appearing cold, incomplete and lacking in detail. Depending on the character of the interior design, even the strongest of modern architecture statements like the Breuer building can today sometimes verge on feeling unadorned —

like a dentist office waiting area. In response, we wanted to add another scale of detail and information. Only instead of using stark simple forms and exposed natural materials, we tried to ‘rehumanize’ the space with curved shapes and a palette of synthetic materials (fiberglass, resin, nylon, acrylic and vinyl).

In conjunction with Jeffrey Inaba’s Columbia University-based group, C-Lab, INABA developed graphic design elements for the café, including T-shirts, signage, the menu, and last but not least, order cards, which together comprise an unofficial Whitney Museum of American Art Building Materials Collection. Each card shows the front and back surface of a material found in the building.

Operated by Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, the café features sandwiches created specifically for the pop-up by USHG’s renowned chefs and are available at the Whitney through July 2010.

Principal: Jeffrey Inaba

Project Designers: Simon Battisti, Talene Montgomery

Darien Williams, Benedict Clouette, Nicholas Solakian, Anna Leach, Joon Bae Park, Genevieve Rainsberger, Dana Nishimura Bryan

Photos by © Greg Irikura and © Naho Kubota.

See Lamar Clarkson’s story at ArtInfo