TURETT COLLABORATIVE ARCHITECTS
The City Bakery, New York, NY
Project Description
Client: City Bakery, Maury RubinProject category: Restaurant/bakery
Location: 22 East 17th Street
New York, NY
Size: 1,800 square feet
Status: Completed 1991
From the moment you first spy City Bakery it is obvious this is not a typical neighborhood bake shop. Even on Manhattan's East 17th Street, City Bakery is unique. As Wayne Turett, founder and principal of TCA and design director of City Bakery explains, "We wanted to break the mold of a traditional bakery with the City Bakery design."
To begin, Turett gave the tall, narrow space a coolly sophisticated yet witty ambiance. A minimalist interior style is balanced by playful design elements. Everyday items and industrial materials are utilized in clever, new ways. An all-glass front reveals a series of white cardboard cake boxes hung in a grid-like pattern along the bakery's main 40 foot wall. Customers chat at Turett-designed satellite tables, spinning around the tall, black steel tables on revolving stools with wheels. Magazines, rolled into galvanized steel ducts, protrude from behind banquettes in the bakery's front, dining area. Large bolts are used as coat hooks and menu holders. A roll of butcher paper attached to the wall scrolls down to list the day's specials. Translucent, exterior-grade fiberglass panels separate the kitchen from the public space.
Turett's design concept reinforces the chef's commitment to elegant simplicity. Cakes and pastries are remarkable for their exquisite shapes and fresh color. And innovative display units, designed by Turett, enhance their visibility. Metal plates extend or drop from graceful stainless steel arms that rise up at varying heights. Cakes positioned on the plates appear to float in space, Magritte-like. Pendant television studio lights focus on the bakery selections. With City Bakery, Turett creates a bakery where each confection is presented like a work of art.
Portfolio Images
Thumbnails
