Boutique Design - April 2014 - 26

In the Fish & Game restaurant,
the clean lines of custom
Italian dining chairs play well
with the warmth of black
walnut tables, many of which
retain their rough live edges.

A custom-built chesterfield
sofa in the restaurant frames a
convivial fireplace crafted with
stone and brick salvaged from
the on-site demolition.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS?

From a client's perspective, the downside of using salvaged items is that they
can make it difficult to predict cost and
schedule accurately. On the other hand,
there is no way to achieve a comparable look and feel with new products. As in all things with clients, the
best strategy is to manage their expectations early in the process.
HOW MUCH SHOULD DESIGNERS
MANIPULATE REPURPOSED
ELEMENTS?

A sense of the craftsperson's hand is
essential, in my view. But if the client or
designer wants perfection, straight lines,
flat planes, he or she shouldn't work with
salvaged materials. The key is to trust
your eye, not your brain. If, for example,
you are stripping paint off an old door
and you find layers of interesting color
underneath, stop the process and bring
the client in to evaluate the impact of
that. It might be more interesting to take
off only one or two layers to reveal the
strata of finishes underneath, which
unveil the long and varied life of the door.

BEYOND THE STRUCTURE ITSELF,
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

I draw my inspiration from my clients'
vision more than my own. Architects
are in the service of their clients, not
the other way around. So, each project
is ultimately determined by the client:
his/her inspirations, aspirations, life
experience, budget and sensibilities.
HOW DO YOU BALANCE WHAT THE
CLIENT WANTS AND WHAT THE
BUILDING REQUIRES?

boutiquedesign.com APRIL 2014

For Fish & Game, we set out to "cook" a
restaurant with a mix of ingredients that
would look like chef Zak Pelaccio's food
tastes-multicultural, but with its roots
firmly planted in upstate New York. The
emphasis is on open-fire roasting/
cooking, utilizing the two custom handcrafted wood-burning fireplaces, one

located in the main dining room and the
other in the bar/lounge area.
That informed the interior elements,
which are all handcrafted and/or
reclaimed and repurposed. The tables are
crafted from black walnut, many of which
have the living edge of the wood
preserved. We used foundation stone and
brick from on-site salvage to build the
custom fireplaces, and repurposed pieces
of the demolished walls to build the brick
oven in the kitchen. Cement from New
York City sidewalks became the hearthstone of the fireplace. We mixed a collection of salvaged and contemporary
American and Italian light fixtures with
strong accents, such as antique tribal
carpets, to reflect the blend of influences
in the cuisine. We juxtaposed custom
Italian dining chairs with antique vernacular furniture from the surrounding
Hudson Valley. Like the food, the environment evokes country elegance but in
a very livable, almost residential way.
WHAT'S THE BIGGEST HEADACHE IN
ADAPTIVE REUSE AND RESTORATION?

Nothing can ruin a carefully designed
space more than an ill-considered
HVAC installation. We go to great
lengths to either disguise intrusive
grilles or, conversely, to design them
into the composition. Fortunately,
there is an ocean of gorgeous salvaged
grilles to choose from.
WHERE IS ADAPTIVE REUSE HEADING?

I hope architects and designers will
learn to appreciate that we have inherited an ancient tradition of building
that should be protected and passed on
to future generations, even at the cost
of our own inventiveness. Working with
a period building in a modern way is a
new language and, thus far, we have
only just begun to decipher its
alphabet. Just imagine what is ahead. 
For a complete list of project participants in the
Fish & Game restaurant, visit boutiquedesign.com

http://www.boutiquedesign.com http://www.boutiquedesign.com

Boutique Design - April 2014

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