The James Beard Foundation announced this year's nominees for their annual awards program on Tuesday. The program includes two honors for architects and designers: restaurant design for spaces serving no more than 75 guests, and those serving at least 76 guests. These include any North American design or renovation from 2011 to today. The six nominees, below.
75 guests and under:
Tria Taproom, Philadelphia: For this Rittenhouse Square taproom, Joshua Otto, AIA, of Otto Architects and David Whipple, AIA, of Assimilation Design Lab returned to the building's historic fabric, like exposed brick and a window. The Pennsylvania architects used blackened steel and white Carrera marble at the bar, where everything—beer, wine, cider, and soda—is all on draft.
Westward, Seattle: Josh Henderson and Matthew Parker of restaurant group Huxley Wallace Collective designed this North Lake Union restaurant and bar.
Grace, Chicago: Designed by Maria Contreras, Christopher Lawton, and Micah Stanley, AIA, of the city's Lawton Stanley Architects, this restaurant is in Chicago's West Loop. The team relied on simple materials, such as undyed leather and wool, brown ash, and patinaed steel, to mirror the restaurant's emphasis on ingredients.
76 guests or more:
Shed, Healdsburg, Calif.: Scott Davis, Mark Jensen, AIA, Lincoln Lighthill, Dean Orr, AIA, and Andy Pluess of San Francisco-based Jensen Architects designed this cafe-slash-store-slash-meeting space in Sonoma County. The building includes a prefab metal structure and glazed garage doors that can open to the fresh air.
Hawksworth Restaurant, Vancouver: Toronto-based firm Munge Leung designed this space located in Rosewood Hotel Georgia in the Canadian city. The firm's Sai Leung and Alessandro Munge imagined four spaces: the Bar & Lounge, the Pearl Room, the 1920s-esque York Room, and the Art Room complete with an installation by artist Rodney Graham.
Virgin Atlantic Airway's Clubhouse, Newark, N.J.: Hayes Slade, AIA, and James Slade, AIA, of New York's Slade Architecture designed this space at Newark Liberty International Airport to emulate urban places of entertainment: a cafe, art gallery, theater, restaurant, club, bar, and lounge.
