Hospitality Design - October 2009 - 73

Opposite page, from top: Sidewalk dining fronts AeroNuova, Piquillo, and 5ive Steak, which are all linked together by a continuous curving flap; lounge-like seating at a gate. Above and right: Travelers can order off of touchscreen menus at gate-side re:vive kiosks; eating alone isn’t so lonely in cave-like, Moorish-tile clad Piquillo thanks to an abundance of single bar seats. (Photos by John Bartelstone.) “The ring is a nod to the gracefulness of the building and acts as an organizing element, like the clock in an European city.” Rockwell also handled the brand strategy for the marketplace, which is home to the majority of the terminal’s eight full-service restaurants, eight quick-service eateries in the food court, seven grab and go markets, three coffee bars, six bars/lounges, and 25 retail stores, each featuring a glowing portal that can contain both brand imagery and signage. industry first by OTG). And there are also four re:vive bars offering drinks and take-away meals. “People want to be near their gate; they are afraid the plane may leave early, they may miss their call time, or the gate changes; so we really looked at how to address that. How can we change the experience of waiting for your plane and make it much more fulfilling,” says Lionel Ohayon founder of New York-based ICRAVE, tapped by OTG to design the re:vive kiosks and bars, and five of the restaurants. “From [the kiosks] all the way to the sit-down restaurants, were conscientious of what the traveler wants and need” In the marketplace, three f ine dining restaurants take cues from the streets of New York, opening up to sidewalk seating. “We wanted travelers to still be part of that exterior environment,” Ohayon says. There’s modern Italian restaurant AeroNuova, where classic Italian black and white films play on flatscreen TVs. “All you ever get is the sports or the news in an airport. We wanted a moment when you step outside the reality of being in an airport,” he says. The floors of AeroNuova curve up to form the wall of cave-like, Moorish-tile clad tapas bar Piquillo, and then curves down to form the wall of sleek steakhouse 5ive Steak, which has a front bone-like screen that adds a cool design element, but still allows travelers to feel close to the gates. Another source of anxiety? Eating alone. So in Deep Blue Sushi decked out with modern furnishings, circular ceiling soffits, and a blue and white palette, Ohayon created two large circular bars for extra single seating, and there’s also a large bar in French bistro La Vie, which is “Pastis-like” with its white and yellow tiled walls, so that travelers don’t have to dine at a table alone. “You find that people tend to go to that terminal a lot earlier,” he explains, mentioning that the success of the restaurants also lies in the fact that OTG brought in New York chefs to ensure great food as well as design. Adds Blatstein: “We are in New York, the capital restaurant of the world. Why not give our customers something great like that? Travel can be a little bit stressful. Why can’t you sit in a beautiful environment? It puts you in a different mood.” hd jetblue.com; gensler.com; rockwellgroup.com; icravedesign.com; otgmanagement.com Don’t Worry About a Thing Dining here is a true blend of form and function, designed to not only better the airport dining experience, but also to reduce customer anxiety, both gate-side and in sit-down restaurants. “We have designed many airport terminals, and there is a certain common human behavior— people don’t want to be more than 250 feet away from their gate,” Hooper says. Dubbed re:vive kiosks, wood and metal bar-like, saddle stool-fronted tables by the gates feature not only outlets for recharging, but also touch-screen monitors featuring a 60-item menu, which allow meals to be delivered directly to customers (an www.hdmag.com October 2009

http://www.jetblue.com http://www.gensler.com http://www.rockwellgroup.com http://www.icravedesign.com http://www.otgmanagement.com http://www.hdmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - October 2009