Client's Objective:
We were asked to create an exciting new design for an established restaurant moving to a new location. Since we designed the original restaurant nine years ago we knew the type of clientele that this establishment should appeal to. The building was going through a major remodel and this project would occupy the most visible corner in our city. The space had been completely demolished, leaving us with a blank canvas. The most challenging aspect of the design was that there were only four walls in which to hang our design on. One of the main goals was to change the earlier "Arts and Crafts" period theme of the original restaurant to a new design based on a sense of place and location.
Solution:
There are no "Western" style restaurants in our city, yet we sit at the most important crossroads for American Western history. This became the inspiration for our design. We chose to incorporate common everyday elements from the west, contemporizing them in the process. We wanted to use the most basic icons, twisting them into supportive design elements. A lot of our design pieces were of our own creation and were constructed by local artisans and craftsmen. We commissioned a cowboy metal worker to fabricate our custom barbwire light fixtures for the bar/lounge. Using photographic imagery, we designed custom over-scaled contemporized scenery lights. We also had a photographer shoot images of our sky (Big Sky Country) for the overhead dining photos. The face of the mahogany dovetailed bar is an actual cattle guard with spur pegs for hanging purses and jackets. We chose black vinyl with off-white accent piping, detailed to represent a western shirt, for the upper walls and columns. The carpet squares give the impression of the natural pattern created when flying over wheat fields. The art murals were painted to give one the idea of a western movie hero theme. Other details include divider walls made of glass and straw, curving banquette seating, commercial suede fabrics with a 50's style western piping, leather chairs, and sheer draperies with leather accents, horse rein tiebacks and railroad spikes supports.
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