Contract Magazine - January/February 2019 - 104

INTERIORS AWARDS

The design team developed a
rectangular system of steel
planters to hold cascading
pothos vines as well as soil
and irrigation. Wood beams
added to the open ceiling
space above help carry the
extra load (this page). The
main dining spaces are broken
up into enclaves through
custom furnishings. In one
section, half-round booths
sport slatted-wood backs and
yellow leatherette (opposite,
top). Subtle arches behind
the bar evoke the Middle East
without resorting to kitsch
(opposite, bottom).

Anyone who dines out on occasion will assert that food, while important,
isn't the sole defining factor of a great experience: Ambience and service play roles,
too. This is where good design matters, a sentiment that chefs Ori Menashe and
Genevieve Gergis understand. So, when they looked to open Bavel-their second
Middle Eastern cuisine restaurant-in the downtown Los Angeles arts district, they
tapped Studio UNLTD to carry out their vision: A light and inviting environment
that breaks from the conventions of dark and cliché Middle Eastern restaurants
while still evoking the Mediterranean.
The chosen site, an industrial warehouse typical of the neighborhood,
posed a challenge at the start. While the structure had some existing windows
and clerestories, it still proved dark with two windowless walls and a light-obscuring
mezzanine. The latter was the first to go. Working closely with architect Osvaldo
Maiozzi, Studio UNLTD conceived a new sawtooth roof with skylights that bathe
the dining space in natural light. A third intervention was replacing the original
loading docks with large storefront windows and a raised patio just outside
for alfresco dining.
In the evenings, the material and color palettes work in concert with the
restaurant's fixtures-ranging from wall washers to spotlights-to maintain the light
aesthetic as well as preserve some of the building's industrial past. The designers
hired a scenic painter to whitewash the existing exposed brick and add layers of
plaster and colors to recreate an aged look. "We were inspired by how old Mediterranean
buildings show the strata of their history," explains Greg Bleier, founding partner
and design director of Studio UNLTD. And the clients desired "a space inherently
feminine but subtly rough and raw."
The designers found other clever ways to evoke the Middle East without
resorting to kitsch: subtle arches behind the bar, pendants with lantern silhouettes,
and scattered references to Mediterranean tilework. "In a space that feels devoid
of pattern at first glance, there are several different textures, colors, and surfaces of
tilework that give the space a lot of depth," Bleier says. "Asymmetrical strips of fish-scale
104

tile in the floor, aqua-colored arabesque tile on the face of the kitchen counters,
and glossy black tile in the charcuterie area."
To avoid a sea of uniform tables, the design team broke up the main dining
spaces into enclaves through custom furnishings. In one section, half-round booths
sport slatted-wood backs and yellow leatherette. Elsewhere, long walnut-stained
white-oak banquettes feature complementing yellow leather panels. And an
innovative double-sided banquette provides elevated seating on the bar-facing side
and regular dining-height seating on the other. The double-side banquette features
brass rails that protrude from the bar-height side to form a foot rail and bases for
integrated marble-topped tables. Clad in wood slats, the banquette stands 5-feet,
5-inches high to ensure clear sightlines for the staff to efficiently tend to patrons,
another stipulation from the clients. Also for this reason, the kitchen was opened
as much as possible and the bar was set perpendicular to the cook line. "A general
manager can sit on one side of the room and keep an eye on the entire floor, as well
as the patio," says Greg Bleier, founding partner and design director of Studio UNLTD.
The most noticeable design innovation is a hanging garden of sorts.
Co-owner and pastry chef Gergis explains, "I wanted to bring the outside indoors
as you would find in places all over the Middle East. But we wanted to do it in a more
modern, clean way." With no precedence to work with, the designers eventually
developed a rectangular system of steel planters to hold cascading pothos vines
as well as soil and irrigation. Wood beams added to the open ceiling space above
help carry the extra load.
"We wanted to make an urban oasis in a heavily industrial area," adds Bleier.
By creating this living chandelier that beautifully filters light-whether natural
or artificial-Studio UNLTD has succeeded in transporting diners from the city
to paradise. c

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