FIRM'S RESPONSIBLITIES: Architecture, Town Planning
Economic and cultural shifts together with increased leisure time and mobility have transformed the idea of eating and drinking into a social event. Food and drink have become part of the global market which in turn has triggered innovative new approaches to bar and restaurant design. The pub design concept has evolved from the principle that in this extremely competitive marketplace, buildings and environments are an intrinsic part of the product and not merely a place in which to display or sell it.
The belief that the town or city is a series of spaces for different activities and that the restaurant and bar exist as its eating and drinking rooms was at the forefront of the design process.
The proposed development is for a high quality building as a food led public house. The design has been developed as a series of elements which are evocative of traditional values. The elements are arranged around a central service core to conceal the mechanical plant located on the flat roof of the service core. There is a manager's flat at first floor, giving the two storey element of the building.
The compact form around the central core avoids the 'front and back' approach frequently associated with this type of building, and has been designed so that the building is sited to allow the public areas to take advantage of an outside patio area, facing the main retail area.
The importance of landscape has been integrated into the design concept and large areas of floor to ceiling glazing encourage the 'outside to come in' thereby further strengthening the relationship of the building to its specific location. The design and materials of the garden terrace are carefully considered with the erection of smaller enclosures made possible by careful use of trees, shrubs, hedges and fences.
Each pub is intended to serve principally the local residential district to which it relates but can and often does serve the wider residential and business communities.
