i was approached by Sister and Brother team Melanie and Robin Frean last year regarding the Restaurant interior design of a site they were in negotiations with on Streatham High Street. The site had been run as an Indian Restaurant for years, but the owner had retired and the space had been emptied ready for a new lease of life.
Originally from Sussex but now living in London Melanie and Robin were keen to bring a little part of Sussex with them. The design brief for the restaurant was to design a Restaurant that would source produce from the Sussex and the South East and use it to create a Restaurant with a British menu. Whilst they were researching and speaking to food producers I was researching iconic architectural landmarks from Sussex and ways of getting our message across.
Survey of Restaurant
It was not the best restaurant for doing the survey in. It had been an Indian Restaurant for over 30 years and when the restaurant owner decided to retire and relinquish the site it was 6 months before I got a chance to do my measurements. The space was very dusty and quite pungent. When I got home I had a good bath and then tidied up the plans. I do like doing my own surveys on certain projects as it helps me to understand the space.
Concept Design
It took me a couple of weeks to put the concept document together which ended up taking the customer on a journey from Streatham high street through Sussex and onto the De la Warr pavilion on Bexhill beach. The toilets were supposed to be clad like beach huts but that element of the design got edited out due to budget constraints.
Technical Drawings
During the technical drawings stage of the design we developed and refined some of the interior elements including what was named the ‘wall of providence’ a map that showed where some of the food and drink used in the restaurant was sourced.
Site supervision
Although we kept up a dialogue and discussed issues I only made a couple of site visits. The clients were very hands on and were on site all day everyday doing what they could. I have had such a manic year that I have not had a chance to chase up the photos before now, they were taken by London Interiors Photographer Chris Snook…
