Avec
Catagory: Buildings
Client: Chef Paul Kahan, One Off Hospitality
Project: Second Floor at AVEC
Location: Chicago, IL
Intended for occasional private entertaining and additional restaurant seating, the second floor at Avec creates a warm, modern and flexible space echoing the qualities its successful ground floor with a personality of its own. The intimate scale of the room is enlivened by an open kitchen and intimate bar. Colorful Mediterranean-inspired cuisine is presented against a minimalist architectural vocabulary of clean lines and rustic surfaces but, like the menu, both are presented with modern interpretation. With ultimate flexibility in mind, custom-designed modular oak tables can be configured of a variety of ways while multiple floating solid oak doors, integrated into the architecture, can be used to create multiple scales of space; fitting the exact needs of any given experience. Minimalist white oak planks extend from floor to wainscot to bar to ceiling where massive timber beams are left exposed. An image of a limestone wall extends the full length of the space creating a simultaneous modern and rustic gesture. The light-filled space with earth-toned wall paint gives a soothing comfortable dining atmosphere.