Bandol

A series of intriguingly zoned spaces and continued visual interest, mirrors and metal surfaces create an intimate atmosphere in this London restaurant.

In their project for Bandol, a new restaurant on Chelsea’s Hollywood Road, Kinnersley Kent Design takes their inspiration from the food and wines of the Provence and Riviera regions of southern France.

The intimate, 70-cover restaurant – measuring 200 sqm over two storeys – is made up of a ground floor bar and dining area, with a kitchen, customer toilets and back of house space on the lower-ground floor.

The main architectural intervention was the creation of an enlarged wall opening between the bar and the restaurant to ensure sightlines from the entrance right through the space from the moment customers enter. A secondary intervention involved the re-arrangement of the air-conditioning in the first half of the restaurant, which allowed for a half-metre gain in ceiling height.

A virtue was made of the restaurant’s slim footprint by the design of a series of intriguingly zoned spaces and continued visual interest, so that there is something new to catch the eye at every stage. Cleverly-positioned, 3m x 1m mirrors on the rear right-side wall also enhance the feeling of space.

Natural light from a 2.5 x 4m skylight in the roof of the existing ground floor rear extension was supplemented via a new, large rear-side window and a glazed door. Added greenery, in the form of a climbing ivy living wall on a delicate metal trellis, plus an external bamboo plant framed by the rear door, add to the outdoor feel.