Patina Restaurant at
Walt Disney Concert Hall

At Patina Restaurant in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, visitors first encounter the warm glow of light that radiates from the ceiling and outward past the glass façade. The ceiling in the dining area is composed of a contoured surface that drapes down into the space, billowing across the room as a fluid form. First an abstract surface with a curvature in three dimensions, the ceiling form becomes striated then separated to open up light channels along these striations.

The wall paneling in the Restaurant suggests the condition of being behind. In this design, a thickened, laminated wall material is impressed upon by the contoured movement of a rippled surface. The superimposition of ruled wood grain with fluctuating surface pattern registers as a curtain drawn around the perimeter of the dining room. The activity and ambience of the restaurant is held behind the fluid enclosure as a kind of backstage post-performance.

Status: Completed 2003

Project Type: Restaurant; Building Type: Tenant Improvement; Size: 5,000 sf

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Partners: Hagy Belzberg, Daniel Rentsch

Project Manager: Eric Stimmel

Project Team: Manish Desai, Melanie Freeland, Erik Sollom, Ryan Thomas

Photo Credit: © Tom Bonner

Awards:
2005 AIA Restaurant Design Award, Honor Award; 2004 AIA LA, Merit Award
2004 James Beard Foundation Awards, Most Outstanding Restaurant Design Award Nomination
2004 American Architecture Awards- Chicago Athenaeum

Publications:
Dream Work Space: Restaurant & Bar Design (China), Time magazine: “Feast Your Eyes”, FRAME (Netherlands), Dream Work Space: Restaurant & Bar Design (China), Tra (Sweden), Manufacturing Material Effects, BOB : International magazine of Space Design (Korea)