Tramshed
Listed building converted into Mark Hix restaurant
Location
Hackney, London
Status
Completed
2012
Client
Mark Hix
RIBA workstages
Concept to Completion
Awards
Restaurant & Bar Awards 2013 (Winner)
Size
1,278 m2
Our proposal for a restaurant and bar, designed in conjunction with restaurateur Mark Hix, allowed us to open up this previously hidden Victorian Grade II-listed electrical substation to the public.
APPROACH
In response to the building’s heritage features - a single volume space with striking pitched metal trusses and Edwardian glazed brick faced walls; and Hix’s straightforward restaurant concept, we created a strong but sensitive design using a palette of leather, Douglas fir timber and stainless steel.
DESIGN
To conserve the materiality of the existing structure, each piece of furniture is bespoke, and carefully installed into the original building fabric. To facilitate the building’s change of use, a high quality acoustic solution was applied.
RESULT
We worked with Mark Hix and artist Damian Hirst to conceive and install the venue’s arresting centrepiece, a bull and cockerel in a tank of formaldehyde suspended above diners’ heads. The venue’s understated aesthetic lends itself as a gallery space to the installation, ‘Cock and Bull’, and the collaborative success of the project has helped cement Shoreditch’s mantle as London’s home of fine art and food.
