Cafe and restaurant architecture · Frankfurt
We designed a grill restaurant in Frankfurt.
A long, narrow shell with the kitchen at one end and one long side entirely glazed. Below we set out how the room was divided, how the grill tables governed the ventilation, and how the materials settled on top of those decisions.
- Location
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Space type
- Cafe-restaurant, grill layout
- Scope
- Interior design and visualisation
- Stage
- Design
Design principle
In food and drink spaces, service and ventilation are solved first and aesthetics come second. A project run in the reverse order produces a room that looks good and blocks its own service.
01
Breaking up a long room
The client had taken over a long, narrow shell: one long side entirely glazed, the kitchen at the far end. That geometry imposed two things from the start; service would run along a single line, and the guest would see the end of the room on entering.
The known risk with a long room is this: the aisle turns into a tunnel, tables become a thoroughfare and the far end never fills. We could not remove the aisle, because service had to use it. So we broke it up at eye level instead.
The floor was split into two materials; patterned tile runs along the walking line and timber covers the seating zones. The guest reads that difference with their eyes rather than their feet, and feels that their table is not in the corridor. Light does the same job overhead, with low warm pendants over the seating and a more neutral wash along the aisle.
02
The grill at the table, the hood overhead
The defining decision here was that the grill sits at the table, not in the kitchen. Each booth has a grill line set into its top and its own hood above it. That decision rewrites the ventilation design of the whole room; instead of one central flue, local extraction has to be solved table by table.
It had two hard consequences for the design. First, grill tables are fixed; the table locks to wherever the hood comes down and cannot be moved later. Second, the hoods take up serious ceiling volume. Rather than hide them, we painted them red and made them part of the identity.
The red services running across the ceiling belong to the same language; infrastructure that is not concealed but owned by painting it. For guests who would rather sit without a grill, the opposite side of the room was left free, so the same room carries two ways of eating side by side.
03
Two seating languages
The room holds two seating types and they deliberately do not resemble each other. The booths speak a closed, group language, with a tall red backrest, timber side panels and a crowded table. The tables along the glazed facade speak an open language for twos and fours, with light cane-backed chairs, stone tops and daylight.
That distinction makes greeting a reservation easier. The size of the arriving party tells you which zone it belongs to, and staff do not have to decide. This is what long rooms most often lose; where every table is the same, the far end stays empty.
04
One focal point at the entrance
Identity spread across every surface becomes invisible. So we gathered the brand onto a single face; at the entrance we set a wall where the timber slats turn into a diamond pattern and take yellow light from behind. The guest comes through the door, sees that wall, then turns into the room.
The seating in front of it is deliberately unlike the rest of the room, using a green leather banquette with a curved timber back. A guest whose table is being prepared, or who is waiting for a takeaway order, can sit here without cutting across the flow of the room.
05
The guest washrooms
A venue’s perception is usually lost in the guest washroom. After the budget spent on the dining room, leaving this area to a standard plumbing fit-out changes the guest’s verdict retroactively.
Here we kept the material language related to the room; the fluted timber joinery, brass detail and patterned surfaces come from the same family. The atmosphere, however, was separated. The planted wall and hexagonal tiling at the washbasins are a deliberate softening after the hard industrial ceiling of the dining room. Inside the cubicle the surfaces calm down, and a panelled door and marble floor take over.
Decisions and common mistakes
| Item | Settled in the design | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Aisle | A width was set so service trolleys and guests never collide. | The aisle is narrowed to fit one more table. |
| Ventilation | Every grill table was given its own hood. | One central flue is expected to draw the whole room. |
| Lighting | Low and warm over the tables, neutral along the aisle. | The entire room is lit with one type of ceiling fitting. |
| Acoustics | Timber slats, upholstered backs and planted surfaces break the sound. | Every surface is left in glass, ceramic and metal. |
| Flooring | Patterned tile in the aisle, timber in the seating zones. | One material runs throughout and the zoning is lost. |
| Identity | A single focal wall was set at the entrance. | The logo is repeated on every surface. |
| Guest washroom | Material related to the dining room, an atmosphere of its own. | The budget ends in the room and the washroom is left standard. |
Frequently asked
- Are these images of a built venue?
- No. The seven frames here are three-dimensional visualisations produced at the design stage, not photographs of a built space. We make a point of showing built photography and visualisations distinguishably.
- Where do you start a restaurant design?
- We start with the kitchen and the service line. The seating plan is not drawn before the kitchen position, service distances and extraction routes are settled. Done in the reverse order, the room looks good and the service jams.
- What does a grill-table layout change?
- It changes ventilation and table flexibility. Every grill table needs local extraction; the hood occupies ceiling volume and locks the table in place. Because these tables cannot be shifted later, the layout has to be settled at the start.
- Do you work on venues abroad?
- Yes, this project was prepared for Frankfurt. The drawings and visuals are ours. Permits, fire and operating rules differ in every country, so we run that part together with the architect of record or contractor on the ground.
- Can we commission the design only?
- You can. We offer the design, the visuals and the construction drawings separately. If another firm is building it, we prepare the detail drawings and material schedule so they can start straight away — nothing is left half-finished.
Let’s talk about your space.
If you have the dimensions of the shell and know where the kitchen sits, we can work the rest out by talking. Tell us the operation you have in mind and we will build the plan from there.