Restaurant in New York by Foster + Partners

In New York’s Four Twenty Five office tower, Foster + Partners have designed the spaces for a restaurant with a cocktail lounge, private dining room and show kitchen.  

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The 47-storey skyscraper, which was also designed by Foster + Partners, is located in the heart of Manhattan, close to architectural icons such as the Seagram Building, Lever House and the CBS Building. The restaurant – also called Four Twenty Five – is on the first two floors; it is accessed via the cocktail lounge and its adjacent bar. 

The heart of the establishment is formed by the two dining rooms, which have been positioned as a central volume on the ground floor and the mezzanine above it. The first can be separated or divided into two parts and is encompassed by walls with rounded corners. A curved stairway that leads to the second dining room appears to float on the glass façade as if suspended in a layer of space.  

Open kitchen 

The second dining room, which is on the mezzanine and features panelling in American walnut, juts into the lounge area like a balcony and spans the bar. It has seats for 80 people; its show kitchen allows guests to watch as their meals are prepared. In addition, there is the customized lighting, which consists of 231 luminaires that were designed by Foster + Partners and have been arranged as tiered ellipses.  

The lighting, which was designed by Foster + Partners, was custom-created piece by piece. © Nigel Young / Foster + Partners

Interior with American walnut

As on the ground floor, the mezzanine dining room has rounded corners. Benches framed in American walnut line these corners. The architects have used the same wood for the lounge, specifically the bar counter, the covered ceilings and the backlit framing for the large-scale painting by American artist Larry Poon. Further decorative elements are the translucent curtains which extend from the mezzanine to the ground floor and define the overall look of the restaurant.  

A bespoke furniture collection 

Along with the lighting, the furniture collection is also the brainchild of the architects, who designed it in collaboration with the Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku. The collection includes a chair, a bar stool, a lounge chair and a sofa of walnut with burgundy-coloured leather. Like the stairway, walls and railings, flowing lines characterize the design of the furniture, which fits self-assuredly into the general ambience.