TURETT COLLABORATIVE ARCHITECTS

The Market at Newport, Jersey City, NJ

Project Description

Client: Ark Restaurants
Project category: Cafeteria
Location: Newport Office Tower
Jersey City, NJ Size: 18,000 square feet
Status: Completed 1996 (?)


Unconventional. That has been the thinking behind many of TCA's restaurant design projects. Aware of TCA's alternative style, Ark Restaurants challenged TCA to bring that attitude to the cafeteria design at The Market at Newport in Jersey City.

As TCA envisioned the project, the goal was simple. Create an office cafeteria that offers a pleasurable atmosphere along with healthy food and efficient service. From the beginning, TCA ignored traditional cafeteria concepts. "We decided it should be festive and market-like, not corporate at all," Wayne Turett of TCA explains. "No steam tables, no long service lines, and no lay-in fluorescent ceilings." That decision to make everything fresh - food and atmosphere alike -- dictated the details of the design.

TCA took advantage of the fact that they were designing a major new installation, not reconfiguring a previous food service space. In order to deliver fresh and varied menu selections, TCA developed a concept focused around the construction of two kitchens. An inner kitchen would handle most of the food preparation. Final cooking and finishing are executed at an outer kitchen or servery. The servery contributes to the market-like atmosphere as customers observe and comment on the final preparation of their selections. TCA worked with Ark Restaurant executives to develop menu items that took best advantage of the double kitchen process.

An exciting, market atmosphere dominates the design of the entire servery space. A sinuous tray rail is designed to make it easy for customers to move in and out of line at any point. Overhead, bold metal letters announce food varieties at each location. TCA designed electronic menu boards, linked to the kitchen computer, to instantly post menu additions or deletions. Materials are simple and raw: slate stone flooring, colored plywood and unpolished metals. A series of spots and floods filter through a low-slung metal mesh canopy to simulate outdoor light.

The servery is separated from the dining area by a curving, bright blue wall. Once in the dining space, the mood is calm and open. Massive murals, commissioned by TCA and designed by Anthony Russo, depict planting and harvest scenes.

Dominating the 10,000 square foot dining area are lighting fixtures that illustrate TCA's skill with affordable, ordinary objects used in new ways. Here, silver, satellite dishes are turned into giant reflectors, hung from the tips of an armature ceiling system. "The lighting design was triggered by the overhead fixtures in the entrance of Breuer's Whitney Museum," Turett says. "Enlarging the scale of the overhead elements with the addition of satellite dishes,9'-6 " feet in diameter, creates a sense of intimacy in the expansive dining area."

Produced on budget, The TCA design for The Market at Newport's cafeteria has won praise not only from area office workers but, also, design organizations. The project earned the 1996 Interior Design Award from Restaurants & Institutions Magazine and was nominated for the Outstanding Restaurant Design Award from the James Beard Foundation and Interior Design Magazine.

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