A series of eleven restaurants across six terminals in the Los Angeles World Airport. Selected projects:

B GRILL BY BOA STEAKHOUSE

The restaurant is visually anchored by a white liquor display spindle around which a zinc-clad, linear space-form defines the entry, frames views, and wraps back upon itself to define multiple sub-spaces. A stalactite-inspired light fixture of red acrylic tubes defines the geographic center of the space and creates compositional tension with the white spindle, which marks the restaurant’s centrifugal center. At the take-out counter, a “red carpet” of floor tile welcomes the traveler and wraps up the wall to announce entry and accentuate the space between the beginning and end of the zinc-clad space-form.

CARL’S JR.

The architectural language references Carl’s Jr.’s origin in the car culture of mid-20th century southern California with fluid, curvilinear surfaces reminiscent of 1950s automotive design and a color palette that references the brand’s colorized black-and-white photo archive to create a dynamic, contemporary space appropriate for a 21st century airport. An illuminated light box above the banquette enshrines the historic imagery as the design DNA of the space.

LEMONADE

Fluid, cursive-inspired forms define space within a light-filled airport concourse, integrating space, form, and branding into a cohesive spatial and culinary experience.  Branding elements are transformed into architectural space-defining elements: a logo is enlarged, thickened, repeated to create a patterned, permeable enclosure; a photo is abstracted by increased scale, blurring, and installed adjacent to a base-building mirror to create an illusion of infinite space and dappled sunlight. Light colors and materials create a contrapuntal frame for rich, earthy local cuisine, united by the perception of “freshness.”

SAMMY’S WOODFIRED PIZZA

A dynamic, stepped wood soffit moves through space to lead the traveler from the entry to the main dining area. Exhibition cooking, exposed to the busy Terminal 4 concourse, lends theatricality to the travelling and dining experience while heavy stone walls frame views from the concourse, through the dining space, to the runway.  Tension is created between static, monolithic stone floors, walls, and counters and the light, dynamic wood soffit while walnut, glazed Japanese penny tile and Turkish limestone resonate with the texture and earthiness of the brand’s Mediterranean menu. 

HOMEBOY CAFÉ