Spice restaurant & bar
Atlanta, Georgia
Seiber Design, Inc.

Turning a private residence into an inviting public realm

© Thomas Watkins

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

The owner’s directive for this project was to transform an existing 4,080-square-foot, two-story residential structure into a vibrant, contemporary restaurant. Required components included approximately 180 seats, a wine cellar, a two-story bar with catwalk, and an exhibition kitchen. The site also needed to accommodate a dining patio, parking, and loading. The design was developed with two primary aesthetic goals: a juxtaposition of appropriately scaled, cleanly detailed new components within the existing residential structure, and an opening up of the former domestic realm to public views and display.

Steel framing, inserted into the existing wood-framed building to meet loading requirements and to allow partial floor removal to create a two-story bar space, was left exposed as a decorative element both outside and in. Interior materials include painted gypsum board, Venetian plaster, patterned glass flooring, Brazilian cherry flooring, back-lighted blue glass back bar wall, custom stainless steel wine displays and wall panels, and upholstered wall panels.

The design retained the two-story shell and exterior materials of the existing house core. Continuous vertical steel and glass windows update the original bays. The basement/crawl space was excavated and expanded for the wine cellar. The new additions, smaller in scale than the remaining house, utilize contrasting materials (copper panels, glass and steel window walls, painted stucco) and massing (inverted roof, curving wall, slightly canted foundation wall at front, simple cube at the kitchen). The two-story bar space, accessed through a narrow, curving entry hall and visible from the catwalk, mezzanine, and portions of main floor dining, is the highly detailed centerpiece. The dining areas are more intimate, less detailed, but afford views of the adjacent sidewalks, streets, and midtown skyline beyond.

Formal name of Project:
Spice restaurant & bar

Location:
Atlanta

Gross square footage:
6,290 sq. ft

Total contruction cost:
$1.5 million general construction, $140,000 furnishings,
plus food service equipment and artwork by owner

Owner:
Bruce Patterson

Architect:
Seiber Design, Inc.
675 Drewry Street NE, Studio 10
Atlanta, Georgia, 30306
404 875-6765 phone
404 875-0324 fax