The Theatrics of Dining

The Theatrics of Dining An Architecture of Gastronomy within Dublins Pseudo Rural Productive landscape

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Dublin School of Architecture Dublin Institute of Technology Bolton Street, Dublin 1 Architectural Thesis B.Arch 2014 Shane Phelan

Can the Genius Loci be restored to the North Inner City through the Theatrics of Dining

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“I feel more strongly with every recurring year that our country has no tradition which does it so much honour and which it should guard so jealously as that of its hospitality. It is a tradition that is unique as far as my experience goes (and I have visited not a few places abroad) among the modern nations. Some would say, perhaps, that with us it is rather a failing than anything to be boasted of. But granted even that, it is, to my mind, a princely failing, and one that I trust will long be cultivated among us. Of one thing, at least, I am sure. As long as this one roof shelters the good ladies aforesaid- and I wish from my heart it may do so for many and many a long year to come- the tradition of genuine warm-hearted courteous Irish hospitality, which our forefathers have handed down to us and which we must hand down to our descendants, is still alive among us.�

James Joyce, The Dead

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Fig 1. Roofscape of atmospheres

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Table of Contents

Fig 2. Roofscape concept on Site

Abstract Gastronomic Architecture Constructing an Idea: City Scale Kosumterror

Pop Culture Critique Regionalism

Genius Loci of the area

Istanbul as Examplar

Testing the Idea in a foreign context

Testing the Idea: Frederick Street

Case Study: Georgian townhouse Critique

Developing the Idea: Intimate scale

Case Study: Film

Chefs table

Dining Space Design

Kitchen as Genesis of Dining

Chapter One Studies

Kchido Mobile Restaurant

The Idea on Site

Arran Street East Realization

Conceptual and Strategic Design

Developed Design

Refined Design Final Design

Conclusion Bibliography

Image References Acknowledgements Fig 3. KItchen concept

Table of Contents

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Abstract

The city of Dublin was shaped around a topography of sustenance. The Food culture has played a large role in moulding Dublin into what it is today. The markets area of the North Inner City in particular having a rich history going back over nine hundred years. Christian Norberg Shulz states that “identity, means, primarily that one defines and develops ones own local characteristics�. Taking this axiom, the following thesis will seek to reengage the city dweller with the degenerated markets area of Dublin in the North Inner city.

The project is situated on Arran Street East and it consists of two similar and complementary typologies. That of an open air food market on the ground floor, and a fine dining restaurant on the first floor level. This coupled with Dublin City Councils refurbishment of the Historic Victorian Fruit and Vegatable market will reawaken this area of the city and help restore the sense of place lost over time.

Abstract

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Gastronomic Architecture

Gastronomic Architecture

Gastronomic Architecture

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Fig 4.1 Victorian Fruit and Vegetable Market, 1979

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Gastronomic Architecture

Fig 4.2 Fish Market, 1974

Fig 4.3 Iveagh Markets, 1960s

Fig 4.4 Lower Pembroke Street, 1946

“All passions, rationalized and controlled become an art: gastronomy more than any other passion is sensitive to rationalism and direction.”

Charles Pierre Monselet The city is a hive of potential exchange. Beneath the topography of buildings and routes, there lies a secondary strata, one which truly defines a city. The human element. Kevin Lynch in his book “The Image of the City” defines the five inanimate elements that work together to constitute a city. These being nodes, districts, landmarks, paths and edges. Yet his research overlooked the most essential part. Each metropolis is built up on a web of occupation and this occupation is the sixth element.

Dublin is a city that was shaped around a topography of sustenance. The north inner city was at one time the centre of Dublin’s food landscape and it developed out of the necessity of the transport of animals and foodstuffs from the countryside. However this Foodscape once so dominant in this area has moved on and as such the spirit of the area has to an extent been lost. The Genius Loci (spirit of the place) can be restored to this area yet it must address the lost food culture to do so. Food in our society has always been an elemental form of exchange and as such can be utilised to retain this lost sense of place.

Growth, production, transport, preparation, the culinary arts and indulgence are all aspects of gastronomy and must all be housed within the built environment. This is where the intersection between food and architecture occurs. In recent years there has been a modernist revolution with regard to the culinary arts. An Avant-Garde attitude to cooking techniques has developed and concurrently an acknowledgement that the pleasure of eating is also dependent on setting and atmosphere. Gastronomy therefore must no longer be a metaphor for the arts in today`s society but take its place among its muses.

(Weiss 2004) The ritual of dining is the accumulation of the separate elements that come together to create a meal experience and as such this is the area I will be exploring in an attempt to restore the Genius Loci to the North inner city.

Fig 4.5 Iveagh Markets, 1960s

Gastronomic Architecture

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Gastronomic Architecture

The following investigation is split into two categories of research with a design proposal separating these.

Firstly I will be examining the city of Dublin and the theme of food culture from a more abstracted viewpoint. I will begin by setting out “the problem” I have identified within the food industry, that of the globalisation of consumerism. Looking briefly at this topic and how it is being critiqued through the pop culture movement. The “cure” for this is then set out by examining the local region of the North Inner City and what the food culture in the area once comprised of. This exploration of place will give me an understanding of how this lost Genius Loci can be restored. Istanbul is referenced as an exemplar of a city with a healthy spirit of place, one maintained through its food culture. These explorations shall begin to define my question, of how to re-establish the lost food identity of the city.

A case study separates the two literary elements. This is the first design stage of my process based on the research undertaken in the first section. This work was my initial attempts to complement the food culture of the area. I have then critiqued the project and used this reflective process to outline the second area of my research.

This second research investigation explores the foodscape at a more intimate scale. This becomes an exploration of dining as process and how it can be staged. This is done first by analysing film to look at the theatrics of dining, then a more theoretical look at how this can work architecturally. This is done through a number of Diagramtic studies of existing restaurant and kitchen conditions, while also exploring elements of theory behind dining space design. The conclusive question that ultimately arises asks if a reinvention of the dining and culinary process can help restore the spirit of place to the north inner city.

Gastronomic Architecture

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Constrcuting the Idea: City Scale

Constructing the Idea: City Scale

Constructing the idea: City Scale

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Fig 5.1. Pacman as the metaphor for Konsumterror

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Constrcuting the Idea: City Scale

Fig 5.2 Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

Fig 5.3. Andy Warhols, Coca Cola Bottles

Fig 5.4 Andy Warhols, Campells Tin Souo

Komsumterror

The Pop Culture Critique

There is a problem of standardization with the food industry at present, one that can unwillingly seep into the realm of the built environment. The idea of Konsumterror (Galloway 2006), a concept coined by Ulrike Meinhof is that the true terror in the world is the constant demand by late capitalism that we must continuously consume more. Within the architecture of the city this becomes the idea of Urban Konsumterror. It is a critique of the development of the contemporary city, where signature architecture becomes the defining element at the expense of regionalism. Galloway argues that;

The idea of consumerism and how it has saturated the media is an area that was celebrated and critiqued during the pop art movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Artists such as Eduardo Paolozzi in the UK and then Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg in the US began to produce art influenced by the popular culture at the time. Leading brands were starting to globalise the economy and theirs was a response to this new consumerism. It was a progression from abstract Dadaism that emerged in Europe post world war one.

“Signature architecture begins by consuming the museum: in order to build more and more, funds for exhibits or even routine maintenance are cannibalized. When buildings fall apart as a result, they can be torn down and new ones can be built. Cities also become consumed”. (2006) Pac-man becomes the metaphorical symbol of this idea within her argument, where no hunger is felt yet he cannot stop consuming. This argument is a fairly pessimistic view of the development of our contemporary cities, yet it can be seen to be based within some truth.

Take for instance the city of Bilbao in northern Spain. A mention of the cities name and the iconic Guggenheim Museum springs to mind. Frank Gehrys “signature building” that has come to define Bilbao. The spirit of Bilbao has been confused with this modernist icon.

It was the artist, Andy Warhol in the years that followed that became the archetypal artist of consumerism. His was a pop culture manifestation of the modern ideas of advertising that were flooding the market. His prints of Campbell’s tin soup, Coca cola bottles and Brillo pads gained iconic status. Warhol’s process even reflected the consumerist machine as he often simply chose a subject to depict and a colour scheme and then left it to his protégée to mass produce the images out of his silver factory. Lavish parties and exhibitions filled with vast amounts of these repetitive prints became the go to events in New York at the time. The repetition in his work saturated the visitor with these consumerist images until they lost all meaning. Andy Warhol used this repetition to reflect on the commodification of food that was becoming so common place at the time.

Constructing the idea: City Scale

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The Docks The Royal Canal The Great Western Railway Smithfield Square Victorian Fruit and Vegateble and Fish Market

Fig 6. Dublin 1860

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Constrcuting the Idea: City Scale

Regionalism Yet undoubtedly the globalization of consumerism is an integral part of our society today.

With the interconnected world we reside in, this is not going to cease, yet we must retain a certain sense of place, in not just our architecture but with culture as a whole. I am using both a gastronomic and architectural lens to explore how this Genius Loci can be maintained, the area of exploration being that of the North inner city of Dublin.

Christopher Norberg-Schulz explored this idea of place in his essay “A New Regionalism”, asserting that “Regional rootedness needs to be a dimension of any architecture”, not the whole.

This doesn’t require one to dwell in Nostalgia, more so the spirit of the place can be embodied through an architecture of visualisation and complement. Norberg- Schulz suggested that the new architecture either emphasises the qualities of the area (Visualisation) or adds a missing element to the environment (Complement), thus an authentic architecture can be established, that can successfully transform “site” into “place”. (2000)

Original Genius Loci of the area Looking back to the history of Dublin’s development as a city, the streets of the North inner city were designed to facilitate the transport and purveyance of food. The area around Smithfield was once at the centre of Dublin’s Foodscape, housing both the Smithfield Square markets and also the nearby Victorian fruit and vegetable markets. The majority of food from rural areas entered the city through the streets around this area, coming in via barge or railway from the terminal areas of Broadstone station and Blessington basin.

The Royal Canal extended as far as the Shannon River when it was completed and a spur

was built connecting the main canal to Blessington basin. This waterway was originally built to service the Jameson distillery in Smithfield square, another element of the Foodscape in the area. Concurrently Broadstone railway station was the terminus of the Midland Great Western Railway which served Leinster, Cavan and much of Connaught. These two transport systems allowed a great reciprocity between the city hinterlands and further countryside, and the city itself. Hence these transport systems were a major influence in how the city was shaped during its early development.

However the Royal Canal was filled in during 1927, and the Broadstone/ Boombridge line closed in the 1960s bringing an end to the majority of the food and livestock importation into this area of the city. Local residents lost sight both physically and metaphorically with the rural landscape that fed them, leading to a divide between the city and rest of the country. Colloquial street terms were lost as this divide increased. The area of Stoneybatter once commonly known as “Cowtown”, and also St Michans Street known locally as “Fishers Lane”.

Samantha McAuliffe talks about the possibility of a re-emergence of the food landscape in Dublin. There is a proposal for the reopening of the Victorian markets on Mary’s lane in the North inner city, these rebranded as an artisan market. Therefore there is scope to complement this development and to help the re-emergence of Dublin’s Foodscape.

The city still bears a topography of sustenance, the spirit of the place is still present, Dublin simply needs to re-identify with it.

Constructing the idea: City Scale

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Fig 7.1-4 Images of Victorian fruit and Vegatable markets 1970s

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Constrcuting the Idea: City Scale

Constructing the idea: City Scale

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Fig 8.1 Fish Market, Istanbul

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Constrcuting the Idea: City Scale

Fig 8.2 Shish Kebab, Istanbul

Fig 8.3 Chicken Rotisserie, Istanbul

Fig 8.4 Market at night, Istanbul

Istanbul as an Exemplar The idea of a full food experience is one that I experienced within the city of Istanbul, a Turkish culture enriched by the idea of food. The city has a substantial food culture and as such there is a strong sense of place throughout. The idea of process in food production is important and a gastronomic language becomes the universal dialect of the city.

On numerous occasions throughout the day people can be seen carrying tea trays between the different street stalls in the city. The ritual of tea drinking is seen as a common form of interaction. There is also a great amount of time and dedication placed into the simplest craft when associated with food. This in my own experience was typified by two old gentlemen selling mackerel sandwiches in the Fish market. Here the fish were caught in the Bosphorus, mere metres away, then sold onto the larger vendors in the market before finally the two old men would buy the quantity required depending on their demand. A simple stall, no doubt running for years in the same way, yet it is this simplicity and honesty in the food that truly captured the spirit of the place.

A similar experience was shared with a mussel vendor late one nightin Taksim square. Here I purchased ten mussels, yet then the vendor set about preparing each in turn and waiting for me to consume it before the next was prepared. The meal became a theatrical affair.

The vendor acting out an impromptu show in the process of preparing each mussel. This encouraged conversation and the simple act of buying street food became a warm form of exchange.

These basic interactions are what make up the Genius Loci of any given area. This kind of atmosphere and character is what has been lost in Ireland, yet the question becomes whether an architecture that addressed this lost spirit of place could reignite the Genius Loci.

Fig 8.5 Mackerel Vendors, Istanbul

Constructing the idea: City Scale

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Fig 9.1 Galata Tower Floating Fish Market

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Constrcuting the Idea: City Scale

Food Process in a foreign context: Gatala Tower Floating Fish Market The total experience of the food culture in Istanbul, lead to the testing of my some of my ideas within this context. I wanted to explore the idea of process and informal cooking spaces in the Galata tower area of Istanbul. This district is comprised of trendy cafes, bars and restaurants, yet down towards the waterfront the fishmarket gives the explorer a true Turkish experience. The idea is to keep everything localised, with the fishing, processing and the selling of the cooked fish all kept within one floating unit, thus unclogging the area. This would enchance the theatric aspect of seeing the entire food process from hook to plate.

Fig 9.2-3 Galata tower existing Fish Market

Fig 9.4 Fish Market Process

Constructing the idea: City Scale

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Testing the Idea: Frederick Street

Testing the Idea: Frederick Street

Testing the Idea: Frederick Street

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Fig 10.2 Georgian townhouse diagramatic strategy

Fig 10.1 Georgian townhouse Floor Plans

basement plan 1:100

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Testing the Idea: Frederick Street

Fig 10.3-4 Georgian townhouse model Images

The idea of the re-emergence of the foodscape in Dublin became an important question to explore with my research. I had an interest in how the north inner city could reclaim some of its sense of place by reinvigorating its food culture. How this could be achieved became my initial project during semester one.

As a typology I decided to look at the Georgian townhouse, choosing a dilapidated building on Frederick Street near Parnell square. These red brick buildings are quintessential elements of the north inner city and as such I chose to work within this vernacular. The building I chose was constructed in1789 as part of the wide streets commission that began in 1757 to reshape the medieval streets of Dublin. Frederick Street being constructed at the end of the 18th century to link Sackville Street to O Connell Street.

Aldo Rossi described the city as “a vast repository of collective memory”, (1989) therefore my idea became about reinterpreting how the food process originally worked within a Georgian townhouse building. To achieve this I played with the Georgian hierarchy within the townhouse. The front parlour opening up to become a grand transitional space, the dining rooms kept towards the rear of the building and then toilets and services keep out of view in the basements below. The intention was that exploring the dining habits of Dublin’s Bourgeoisie and aristocracy would give me an insight into the Genius Loci of the area at the time, as the area of Smithfield was at its most prominent during the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries also. The ultimate goal was to get a better insight into how this genius loci could be re-established.

Fig 10.5 Frederick Street Site Model

Testing the Idea: Frederick Street

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Fig 10.6-8 Journey into subterranean food market

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Fig 10.9 Internal Render of Subterranean food Market

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Fig 10.10 Vertical restaurant and food market axis section

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Testing the Idea: Frederick Street

Critique Allen S. Weiss in his essay “Culinary Manifestations of the Genius Loci” explores the idea that regional cuisines cannot travel, that they are often inimitable as the environment becomes an integrated element of each dish.

Taking this concept I felt that placing a new dining experience and an intimate food market on Frederick street might allow for the develop of some regional character. However on reflection, the area around Frederick street was only constructed as an avenue to join Dublin’s main street to the more peripheral Dorset street, not based around the food ways coming into the city.

I tried to adhere to the Ruskin principal that “one should always retain the depredations of time and forego any attempt at a facsimile”, whilst redesigning the building. However by stripping back the building I had to put in my own insertions, these changed the original character of the building and therefore it somewhat lost some of its character. Furthermore the original building had a small floor area and attempting to place commercial dining spaces within a terrace house is in itself a falsism. There was some positives in the use of a rhythmic architectural language to tie the building together. I inserted a series of beams at various points throughout the building to act as a secondary structure, to account for the elements I was removing and I believe this rhythm of beams was successful in tying together the intimate dining spaces and the more open circulation spaces.

The project must now move to a more open site, and allow more freedom of design to truly capture the regional spirit, one that is not inhibited so much in the architectural vernacular of the area. An exploration of the intimate act of dining is the next step in how to understand the city’s original spirit as a reinvention of this can allow me to grasp elements of the regional spirit.

Fig 10.11-14 Vertical restaurant and food market Model Photos

Testing the Idea: Frederick Street

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Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

Developing the Idea: Intimate Scale

Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

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Fig 11.1 La grande bouffe film still

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Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

Fig 11.2 La grande bouffe film still

The Theatrics of Dining

Case Study: Film

“The pleasure of eating is one we share with animals….The pleasures of the table are known only to the human race.”

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (2004 p.247)

Dining is an act of theatrical entertainment, and as such how it is portrayed through film can be an intriguing study as to how dining spaces are constructed. I have investigated two films for this research, Peter Greenaway’s “The Cook, the thief, his wife and her lover” (1989) and Marco Ferreris “La Grande Bouffe” (1973). Both of these films gorge themselves on the themes of over indulgence, lust and ultimately death. They also share an ambiguity in the ideas of creation and destruction that are present throughout both.

Food and the act of consumption can be a strong catalyst in instilling nostalgia. A meal can inspire the mind and trigger memory within the consumer. Yet if we take Allen S. Weiss`s notion, discussed previously, that regional cuisines are intertwined with the local environment and thus cannot travel, then meals and the whole experience of dining must be an intrinsic part of the genius loci of any given area. Therefore I will explore dining as a method of restoring the genius loci to my study area, that of the north inner city.

Brillat-Savarin explained that the total enjoyment of a meal requires a number of elements, the careful preparation and serving of the foodstuffs, the choice of place and the thoughtful assembly of guests. (2004) Within the built environment it is this choice of place that is within the architect’s control. This constitutes not simply clever design but a thematic resonance between the immediate surroundings and also the broader regional and cultural environments. Thus the staging of a meal becomes a complex process.

I will explore this process through a number of methods. Firstly I will explore the theatrics of the dining experience, the atmosphere and character of which is most accurately portrayed through film. Then look at the idea of the chefs table and how this incorporated a full sensory experience. Finally I will look at some of the theory written about the meal experience and the importance of setting and place, and some conceptual restaurants.

I should have a more coherent argument built up at that point to go about restoring a sense of place back to the north inner city Smithfield area.

Marco Ferreris film centres around a group of four upper class men, a pilot, a judge, a television host and a chef who come together to simply eat themselves to death. The`re planned demise, what they call a “gastronomic seminar” is to be located within the confines of an expansive villa in Paris. The four protagonists and a hedonistic schoolteacher, set about gorging themselves on gourmet food. The tone starts out light with the enjoyment of the elaborate foodstuff yet as the gorging continues a tone of madness and disillusion begins to descend.

The dining initially all centres in a large, open kitchen space, yet this eventually leads them to all share a single bed as the eating takes its toll, the films colour darkens and a viscious snowstorm begins, reflecting the films tone. The film reaches towards a final grand feast of a lavish pate “cathedral” created by the chef Ugo. The once expensive villa seems to close in, becoming a symbolic tomb as the characters die off one by one. In this intensely introverted world food becomes the only means of escape, that escape being death.

Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

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Fig 12.1 The thief, his cook, his wife and her lover still

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Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

Fig 12.2. The thief, his cook, his wife and her lover still

This destruction of the body and mind is a theme that is used also to an extent in Peter Greenaway’s film, “The Cook, the thief, his wife and her lover”.

The entire film plays out in an extravagant, exaggerated restaurant “La Hollandais”. The plot revolves around the loud, viscious thief who manages the establishment as he glorifies over an elaborate banquet each night. He surrounds himself with his cronies and his ever suffering wife whom he shamelessly beats and humiliates. The irony being that each hellish night his wife sneaks off to have passionate relations with her mysterious lover.

The preparation of food is celebrated in the over scaled restaurant which heightens the theatrics of the space. Greenways acknowledges the artificiality of cinema and uses this to his advantage in creating a strong visual presentation. A gigantic mural of Franz Hals “The Banquet of the Officers of the St. George Militia of Haarlem” (1616) is an element of this, the painting taking over the majority of the backdrop of the restaurant scene, and provides according to Greenway, all of the colour scheme for the film. Indeed there is a claustrophobic element to the restaurant due to the intense red light portrayed throughout, this subsequently changing drastically to white in the lavatory and to cold blues out in the nightmarish back car park.

Similar to “La Grande Bouffe”, Greenaway’s film builds to a horrifying climatic banquet, where the dead corpse of “the lover” is cooked by the chef, Richard and presented to the thief to consume as an act of vengeance by his scorned wife. Claude Levi-Strauss in his 1962 book “The savage mind”, explores the reciprocity between what is edible flesh and what is desirable flesh. Indeed they are so closely linked that certain cultures use the same definition for both. Here the once desired flesh of the lover is forcefully becoming edible flesh, in an act of cannibalistic revenge.

Both films focus on the idea of over indulgence. The explicit events transforming what were two culinary spaces into parlours of excess and of carnal pleasure. Death eventually becoming the punishment for these sins.

The “La Hollandais” kitchen is according to Greenway, reminiscent of a cathedral. The lighting of Cathedrals requires a theatrical approach according to Elias Torres in his essay Staging’s (2006). The altar as the leading space requiring a great intensity of light.

It is isolated and “staged” by light, akin to the cooking area in La Hollandais`s kitchen.

The side chapels are more dimly lit simply complementing the nave, concurrent with the background of Richards’s kitchen. Theatrical staging is a feature of both theological and culinary architecture.

Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

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Eating vs. Dining Examine your meals: are they mere exercises in eating, or delights of dining?

Eating is prose; dining is poetry.

Eating is routine; dining is festive.

Eating is sporadic; dining needs preparation.

Eating is usually quick; dining takes time.

Eating may be done alone; dining requires company.

Eating is physical and biological; dining is cultural and spiritual.

In this era of the fast food phenomenon we need to eat less, but dine more.

Msgr. Walter Niebrzydowski July 15, 1955

Fig 13.1 Chefs table, The Kitchen Restaurant, Kensington, London

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Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

Chefs table “There is a difference between dining and eating. Dining is an art. When you eat to get most out of your meal, to please the palate, just as well as to satiate the appetite that, my friend, is dining.”

Yuan Mei A meal can be anything from an elaborate royal feast to the most basic eating of an apple on the move, yet in every case there is some horizontal element on which the meal is staged. This can range from the banquet table to the human hand. The table is the most basic element of the staging of a meal and once combined with the atmosphere and character of the setting, the total experience is built up. The stability of the situation relies not just on the objects of course but upon the human elements as well.

The idea of a chefs table in a busy restaurant is one that intrigues me. This being where the consumer is placed sitting among the kitchen chaos. Juhani Pallasmaa talks about how “A walk through a forest is invigorating and healing due to the constant sensory overload”, (2005). The chefs table can encompass a similar sensory experience, yet within the manmade realm. Here the consumer is surrounded by the process, all the senses are activated and there is more honesty in the food one consumes when the whole process is unveiled.

The table according to David Leatherbarrow gives itself up to the meal in a number of ways. Firstly as a type before one sits down, then tacitly as the meal is occurring and finally as a trace once the eating has finished. (2004). Sarah Wigglesworth set about clinically mapping these steps and using them to form an architecture that reflects the process of dining. This design came to fruition through her building on 9 Stock Orchard Street, London terrace. This is quite an abstract method of exploring the dining process yet food and setting need to correlate in the success of a meal so perhaps this method can be justified. In

Fig 13.2 Chefs table chapter one

Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

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Fig 14.1 Order within organized chaos: The 16 columns in the centre offer a brief respite from the pulsating chaos of the 128 surrounding columns. A symbolic representation of the calm dining experienced at the chefs table whille the kitchen fluctuates around in the periphery

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Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

Fig 14.2 Order within organized chaos: My interpretatioin of what a chefs table is.

Sarah Wigglesworth: Clinical Mapping of a Dinner Table The Lay of the Table An architectural ordering of place, status and function. A frozen moment of perfction. This is how architects see.

The Meal Use begins to undermine the apparent stability of the architectural order. Traces of occupation in time. The recognition of lifes disorder

The Trace

a somewhat similar move the conceptual restaurant of Blindekuh in Zurich, became the world’s first restaurant to serve its meal in total darkness. The idea that taste would be isolated and thus enhanced however is somewhat a novelty in my option as I have already shown the important of place in the dining experience.

Dining is clearly an introverted experience but the design and treatment of the space around is what builds atmosphere and complements this experience, as in the case of the staging of a cathedral explored previous. David Leatherbarrow explores this peripheral world in his essay Table Talk and gives something of an architectural guideline. The secondary strata of the space contains a number of horizons that all relate from the table.

There is a horizon at table top level, an important horizon at conversation (eye) level, then there is the lightest horizon hovering above these and congruently beneath the darkest and most recessive elements are situated. These views may dissolve into the background of the scene yet how they are formed is essential to the dining experience. Simultaneously these background elements must also address the world outside and are responsible for retaining the sense of place that is integral to the dining experience.

The setting (choice of place) is the architects realm and as such this is where my architectural agenda shall manifest itself. This became a language based around the rhythm of beams and tectonic expression in my case study in semester one which I used to tie the whole building together. Furthermore if this is appropriate a similar architectural agenda shall be utilised going forward.

The dirty tablecloth, witness of disorder. A palimpsest. This is the reality of domestic life.

Fig 15. Sarah Wigglesworth Drawing

Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

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CELESTORY LIGHT VAULTS

LIGHTEST HORIZON

CONVERSATION HORIZON TABLE TOP HORIZON DARKEST HORIZON

Fig 16.1 Bank of Ireland: House of Commons

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Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

Dining Space Design The three dining spaces within my fine dining restaurant shall be situated on first floor level, echoing the High Society Georgian ideal of Dining on the upper floors. The theory behind these design moves evolving out of the testing of my idea within the Georgian townhouse building on Frederick Street. The Kitchens and services are also keep out of sight of the dining parties yet clearly visible from the circulation areas to reinforce this Georgian infleunce. Each of these spaces then also has a unique atmosphere of dining. This is achieved through seperate lighting conditions through the various roofs. I have similtaneously employed David Leatherbarrows architectural theory based on horizons within each dining space. This allowing for a creation of depth that only becomes visible in the diners peripheral vision.

The Bank of Irelands House of Commons and House of Lords are both used here as two examples of grand, ornate rooms in the city, each with its own unique horizons. The dining spaces i have design are grand rooms of the city in their own right and as such can be seen to echo similar conditions as Edward Lovett Pearses Baroque Bank of Ireland spaces.

Chapter One Kitchen and Chefs table exploration The Kitchens and Chefs table of Chapter One Restaurant on Parnell Square are explored through drawing on the following pages. These drawings show how the busy elements of a michelin star kitchen and its staff can operate while there is a party dining among them.

The entire concept of a meal is experienced once the consumer is placed among the process. Sound, Smells, Sights and feeling the temperature changes of the kitchen are all combined into a multi-sensory experience. The kitchen has become a reality for the consumer and is no longer a mysterious element hidden behind ornate doors and the sophistication of a professional serving staff. The kitchen and its functionality become the genesis of dining and the main theatrical element of the meal.

Fig 16.2 Bank of Ireland: House of Lords

Fig 16.3 Dining Spaces in the City

Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

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Chapter One Restaurant Layout

1 RECEPTION 2 BAR 3 DINING 4 PRIVATE DINING 5 CELLAR 6 KITCHEN 7 CHEFS TABLE 8 WC 9 STORAGE AND SERVICE YARD

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Fig 17.1 Chapter One Restaurant, Parnell Square

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Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

Chapter One Kitchen Layout

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1 ENTREMETIER (STARTERS PREPERATION) 2 CHEFS TABLE 3 PASTRY AREA 4 COFFEE STATION 5 WASHING AREA 6 WAITERS RECIEVING AREA 7 MEAT PREP (SOUS VIDE AREA) 8 FISH PREP 9 DEEP FRYER 10 ROTISSEUR (HEAD CHEFS AREA)

(OTHER AREAS ARE SOUS CHEFS) 11 DRY STORAGE 12 STAFF LOCKERS AND WC 13 WINE CELLAR 14 DINING ROOM 15 COLD STORAGE

12432,5 5853,9

5700,62

5

4

TOTAL AREA: 81 m2

2

RESTAURANT CAPACITY: 116 PEOPLE

80 MAIN DINING SPACE

36 IN PRIVATE ROOMS SERVED BY UP TO 15 CHEFS

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8 11 3

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7

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Fig 17.2 Chapter One Kitchen

Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

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Fig 18.1 Kchido Pop-Up Restaurant Section

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Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

Intimate Spaces for Cooking

yrne Japanese tea house

The Kchido Mexican food van is a pop up restaurant located at 18 Chancery street. The “Restaurant� is an underutilised space adjoined to Fegans catering store, that is used by the Catering store as a storage and waste area. The Owners of the Kchido Van have inhabitated the spaces left unused by the catering store to provide a pop up lunch restaurant for the busy area around Dublins four courts. Upcycling of timber pallets is used to create vibrant, functional furniture, whille all the cooking is done within the van that can close up during the night.

I have examined how up to two people can work and produce food with an kitchen that has a floor area of 3.2square metres. This will inform the design of the intimate cookling and preparation areas within my food market, allowing me to maximise food produce within a minimum area.

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Fig 18.2-4 Kchido Mexican Food van

I have also explored the spacial arrangments of a traditional japanese teahouse. This intimate space is based on a formation of four tatami mats, with each mat being formulated to seat one person. The precise design based on human dimensions gives a good spacial influence upon which i can base elements of my intimate cooking space design upon.

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Fig 19.1-2 Japanese Teahouse and Tatami Mats Formation

Developing the idea: Intimate Scale

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The Idea on Site

The Idea on Site: Arran Street East

The Idea on Site

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Fig 20 Buillding Plan with the Victorian Markets and surrounding wholesalers

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The Idea on Site

The site is on the corner of Arran Street East and Marys Lane, in the heart of the Markets area of the city. A large brick wall encloses the derelict patch of ground adajcent to the Victorian Fruit and Vegetable Markets, and the site was once the historic Daisy Market. The daisy market along with the Victorian Markets and corner dwelling were all built in 1896.

The Victorian Markets are currently being refurbished to house an artisan market with completion due in 2015, while half of the wholesalers using the building shall also be retained within the space. The Food Market and Fine Dining restaurant i have designed shall seamless serve and be served by the Markets, each complimenting the other.

The building on this site allows for the food origins to be always visible, as the consumer is always surrounded by the food process. This will revive a historic link the city dweller once had with the food they consumed. Then in turn the spirit of the markets area of Dublin can be restored, through a collaboration of the restored markets and the theatrical dining experience i am providing.

Fig 21.1-2 Daisy Market historic Photos

Fig 21.3-6 Victorian Markets Photos and Daisy Market Site

The Idea on Site

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Realization

Realization of the Idea

Realization

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Fig 22.1-3 Typology and concept sketch studies Sanaa: Moriyama house/ Steve Larkin: Bogwest

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Realization

Fig 22.4-5 Adam Khan: Brockholes Visitors Centre

Fig 22.6 Concept Diagram on Daisy Market Site

Fig 22.7 Initial Sketch of Site Strategy

Conceptual and Strategic Design The initial site strategy was set out to focus on a route that started in the city, wove its way through the Victorian Markets and would accumulate in a process of varying restaurant spaces. The theatrics of a route that meanders through the process of the city and markets would give the consumer a clear understand of the origins of their food. This connection is an element of fine dining that is often lost. Therefore a new dining experience can be enjoyed within the restaurants i have created, one that ignites all of the senses.

Site Strategy

Fig 23.1 Initial Site Strategy

Fig 23.2 Building Cross-Section

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Fig 24.1 Ground Floor Plan

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Realization

Fig 24.2 First Floor Plan

Fig 24.3 Internal Render

Realization

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Fig 25.1 Ground Floor Plan

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Realization

Fig 25.2 First Floor Plan

Developed design The Project is stripped back to two different dining experiences.

I have utilised my studies on how a kitchen operates and exploded this on a larger scale for the Ground floor plan. There is a main service zone to the east of the plan that consists of a space for the staff, a preperation area, a dishwashing area, the main storage and waste areas and four vermicomposting bins to feed into the herb growing areas. This allows all cooking to take place in the five seperate cooking “stations” that are spread out over an open plan area. The cooking and process always visible to the consumer. Taking infleunce from Louis Khan these stations become the served spaces that the staff “sevice” from the central core.

The typology then flips for the fine dining restaurant above. This consists of three more intimate dining spaces where the cooking and services are now no longer visible to the diner, thus echoing the Georgian attitude to dine dining. The circulation is still keep open plan and the kitchen is spread out among the circulation areas freely. This allows the visitor to physically walk through the kitchen before reaching the destination that is there dining soace. The design of these three spaces based upon the earlier David Leatherbarrow architectural guidelines of horizons at a dining table that i have explored.

Fig 25.3 Market Place Service Kitchen in use

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Fig 25.4 East-West Section

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Realization

Fig 25.5 North - South Section

Realization

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Fig 25.6-9 Cast of Internal Kitchen Space: Model Photos

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Realization

Realization

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Fig 25.10 View from Markets Entrance inwards

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Fig 25.11 FView towards Intimate Cooking Zone

Realization

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Fig 26.1 Ground Floor Plan

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Realization

Fig 26.2 First Floor Plan

Refined design The thesis idea is pushed to further reflect in the spacial arrangements of my building.

The ground floor is stripped back to remove all remain walls. The cooking “stations� now become 1200m2 brick chimneys that while housing a simple cooking element and preperation area similtaneously support the rythmic concrete beams that begin to define the project. This tartan structure emerges out of the rythmic arch pattern that embodies the Victorian Markets and its layout. The central service core is solidified into this pattern and there is additional herb areas provided for the chefs to utilise.

The Upper floor takes a more pragmatic stance. The circulation is now external to acts as an extension to the open air markets below, with each dining space given an anti-chamber. This allow the guests to be served an aperitif and the chefs amuse bouche�before they enter the main dining spaces to enjoy their degustation menu.

Fig 26.3 Building Model

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Fig 26.1 Ground Floor Plan

Fig 26.4 East - West Section

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Fig 26.5 North - South Section

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Fig 26.6-9 Model Photography

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Realization

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Fig 26.10 Back Entrance Render

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Realization

Fig 26.11 Front Entrance Render

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Fig 26.12 Internal View of Markets Space

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Realization

Fig 26.13 View within Victorian Markets towards building

Realization

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Final Design

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write out my spiel here....

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Conclusion final crit comments etc etc

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Fig 27.1 Christmas Critique Presentation

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Fig 27.2 March 18th Critique Presentation

Fig 27.3 April 9th Critique Presentation

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Bibliography

Bibliography • LYNCH, LONNIE (2008) Romance cooking, unlocking the secrets of seducing mars or

Venus, Author house • LYNCH, KEVIN (1960) The Image of the city, Cambridge, MIT Press • HORWITZ, JAMES/ SINGLEY PAULETTE (2004) Eating Architecture, Cambridge, MIT Press • GALLOWAY, ANNE, Space and Culture, http://www.spaceandculture.org/2006/06/14/

signature-architecture-konsumterror/#comment-137 4 January 2014 • NORBERG-SCHULZ, CHRISTIAN (2000) Principals of Modern Architecture, The New Re

gionalism, UK, Andreas Papadakis Publisher • WIDE STREETS COMMISION 1758-1851, http://www.dublincity.ie/RecreationandCulture/ libraries/Heritage%20and%20History/Dublin%20City%20Archives/Collections%20Pre%20

1840/Pages/pre_1840_collection_III.aspx 5 January 2014 • MCAULIFFE, SAMANTHA, On the possibility of a re-emergent landscape in Dublin, Ire land • JOHN RUSKIN (1989). The seven lamps of architecture. new York: dover publications • LEVI-STRAUSS, CLAUDE (1972) The Savage Mind, London, Weindenfeld and Nicolson • TORRES, ELIAS (2006) Zenithal light, Actar • THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER (1989) Directed by Peter GREENA

WAYS, France, Allarts Cook • LA GRANDE BOUFFE, (1973) Directed by Marco FERRERI, France, Films 66 • PALLASMAA, JUHANI,(2005) Encounters, Architectural essays, Rakennustieto Oy, Ha meenlinna • JOYCE, JAMES (1914) The Dubliners: The Dead, London, Grant Richards LTD • AMUSE-BOUCHE, noun, Definition: a small savoury item of food served as an appetizer

before a meal to show off the creativity of the chef. To stimulate ones taste buds/ap

petite, Oxford Dictionary • DEGUSTATION MENU, noun, Definition: a careful, appreciative tasting of various foods

and focusing on the gustatory system, Generally consisting of all of the chefs signature

dishes, Oxford Dictionary

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Image References

Image References 1.

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3.

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Roofscape of atmospheres, Sketch Roofscape Concept on Site, Sketch Kitchen Served and service diagram, Sketch http://dublincitypubliclibraries.com/image-galleries/digital-collections/alive-alive- o-dublins-markets-and-street-sellers?page=2,Historic Photographys of Dublins

Foodscape, (Accessed 5 Janaury 2014) 5.

1. http://www.audc.org/project/urban-konsumterror/ (Accessed 26 April 2014

2. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Guggenheim_Museum,_ Bilbao,_July_2010_(11).JPG ( Accessed 26 April 2014)

3. http://www.adbranch.com/andy-warhols-coca-cola-paintings/ (Accessed 26

April 2014)

4. http://www.christies.com/features/2010-october-andy-warhol-campbells-soup-

can-tomato-1022-1.aspx (Accessed 26 April 2014) 6.

Dublin and its surroundings 1860, Ordnance Survey Ireland, Government of Ireland 2002 7. http://dublincitypubliclibraries.com/taxonomy/term/236/all (Accessed 5 Janaury 2014) 8.

Istanbul Photography, Personal Collection 9.

Galata Floating Fish Market Renders 10.

Vertical Restaurant and Subterranean Food Market work 11.

La grande Bouffe film stills,

1. http://filmint.nu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/la_grande_bouffe_11.jpg

(Accessed 24 April 2014)

2. http://unfrazzledcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/LaGrandeBouffet-

500x307.png (Accessed 26 April 2014) 12.

The Thief, his cook, his wife and her lover film stills

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14.

15.

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17.

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26.

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1. http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/images/rmiah/2007/07/31/cook2.jpg?maxWidth=500 (Accessed 26 April 2014) 2. http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/c/u/i/cuisinier-le-voleur-sa-femme-et-son- amant-89-10-g.jpg (Accessed 26 April 2014) 1.http://buracodafechadura.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/bd.gif (Accessed 26 April 2014) 3. Chefs Table, Chapter One, Personal Collection Model Photos http://www.ediblegeography.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/increasing-disor der-in-a-dining-table-dillerscofidio.jpg (Accessed 5 Janaury 2014) Bank of Ireland drawing, Smith, Cleary (2013) Chapter One Drawings Kchido Mexican Restaurant Drawings Japanese teahouse Drawings Site Plan Daisy Market Photos, http://dublincitypubliclibraries.com/image/aao046-daisy-flea- market-1981 (Accessed 26 April 2014) and Victorian Market Photos, Personal Collection Concept Sketches Initial Building Drawings Initial Building Final Drawings Developed Design Work Refined Design Work Critique Presentation Photographs

Image References

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

I would first all like to thank my family, my parents Michael and Catherine, and sister Tara for their continued support throughout the last six years, and in particular to my brother Gavin who has given me time and guidance on countless occasions.

Many thanks must go to the fifth year tutors, Brian Ward, Johanna Clearly, Dermot Boyd, Dominic Stevens, and Anna Hofheinz for their interest and assistance throughout the last year, and also to the other lectures over the past five years of education, in particular Patrick Flynn and Paul Kelly.

And Hugo Lament for stopping me from turning my restaurant into “Uncle Moes Family Feedbag�.

A further thanks to the staff of Linen hall, primarily Donal and Paul Moore.

Finally i wish to thank my fellow students who have ventured through the last six years with me, and who have undoubtelty been the most valuable inspiration to me thorughout my architectural education. A special mention to the lads in the claremont court this year, Colum Smith, David Lally, Peter Caulfield and Alan Sherlock and finally to Craig Leavy, Kevin Naughton and Conor O Brien who i stuggled through the dirty six years with.

Acknowledgements

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