ArchShowcase 
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. The Media Café at the National Media Museum in Bradford,U.K by SHH ArchitectsNovember 13th, 2013 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: SHH Architects SHH has completed a fast-turnaround transformation of The Media Café at the National Media Museum in Bradford for Levy Restaurants, the sports and leisure division of Compass UK & Ireland, creating a cool, crisp and contemporary refurbished canteen space with playful, integrated film and television references, ranging from classic black-and-white photography to a screen made of aged film canisters and a vintage TV set used to display menus.  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner
 Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner The brief for the revamped space was to widen the scope of the dining experience, with an accent on fresh produce and freshly-prepared foods (including a new pizza and pasta offer), to help drive longer opening hours, with the café now remaining open later into the evening to service cinema-goers, in addition to the daytime museum visitor audience.  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner The Media Café is located next to the Museum shop and close to the main entrance and is therefore perfectly positioned to attract casual visitors. Whilst there was no increase in overall floor space from the existing café, SHH re-arranged the space plan to create newly-differentiated dining and seating zones. Structurally, the back wall of the servery was punched through to create a new kitchen pass for the pizza and pasta offer, creating a sense of theatre and underlining the freshness of the new menu. The new servery area was then clad, floor-ceiling, in crisp white tiling for a canteen feel, with new integrated metal shelving.  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner For the food display, existing servery units were reconfigured and re-conditioned, with a white Corian exterior and timber butchers’ block tops. Customers can be served at any point, with three separate till points and discrete areas for bakery, coffee, soup and pizza, with chilled deli wells for salad display. Menus are hung from the new steel multi-deck display shelving behind the servery area, which are stacked with food and condiments, ranging from giant tins of tomatoes and olive oil to giant jars of coffee and wine, to dress the set. Fresh vegetables are displayed in a series of timber crates in a special unit below. To the right of the server area, an inset wall screen plays old black and white movies to provide interest for customers whilst queuing or dining in this area. Five new brown glass ‘Soren’ pendant lights (with energy-efficient Plumen bulbs) are suspended on bent, galvanised metal arms directly over the food offer.  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner The dining area around the servery features existing loose furniture (simple, laminate-top tables and light zebrano timber veneer chairs), as well as a new wall of bespoke banquette seating, made from the same biscuit-jointed solid timber as previously-used for the servery tops. The upholstery is from Kvadrat in alternating blocks of burnt orange and chocolate brown, matching the four new sofas in the more relaxed café zone and the eight high-backed chairs from Hay (called ‘About a Lounge Chair’), which sit alongside marble-topped ‘Screw’ tables and upholstered stools from Tom Dixon.  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner The café zone, demarcated by two glass block walls and new Bolon flooring, features most of the concept’s film and media features, including large-scale film floor lamps; a series of welded metal and timber shelves, which are home to books on television and film; black and white photos on the walls (chosen by the museum archive team and which also line the walls of the loose furniture dining area); a 1970s TV set with menus on the top and a bespoke-designed screen, created by SHH from a metal frame and rows of film canisters, which were aged in-house with vinegar for a suitably retro look! Lighting is the same brown glass pendant ‘Soren’ lighting as that used over the servery counter.  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner Project Designer Georgia Stevenson said of the project: “Using an existing footprint and building on its strengths, we were able to create a more flexible space that enhanced the new food offer and customer experience and also subtly reflected the media and film setting.”  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner Roy Westwood, Creative Director for Levy Restaurants, commented: “Having worked with SHH on a number of highly successful and award-winning leisure projects over several years now, it’s great to see our collaborations with our chosen design partner getting better all the time. This is not only because of the understanding that comes through working together on the many challenges each project brings, but because we are able to focus on and break new ground for our customers, thanks to our shared vision and truly creative relationship.  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner About SHH: SHH is an architects’ practice and interior design consultancy, formed in 1991 by its three principals: Chairman David Spence, Managing Director Graham Harris and Creative Director Neil Hogan. With a highly international workforce and portfolio, the company initially made its name in ultra-high-end residential schemes, before extending its expertise to include hospitality and workspace schemes.  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner SHH has won or been shortlisted for over 75 creative awards for its projects, across three continents, and is work appears several times each week in leading design and lifestyle publications all over the world. Recent hospitality projects include: the new Terrace Restaurant at London Zoo; Equus (the new bar, restaurant and hospitality suite at Sandown Park Racecourse); The Coach House at Hatfield House, winner of the Best Café Award at the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2012 and Best Leisure Interior at the International Property Awards 2013/2014; Café Liberty at Liberty department store; a luxury passenger lounge for private air carrier Rizon Jet at Biggin Hill airport and the Barbican Foodhall and Lounge, winners of four major design awards including the Best Bar or Restaurant at the FX Awards 2012 and the Best Independent Restaurant at the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2011 www.shh.co.uk  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner  Image Courtesy © Gareth Gardner
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