Celebrating The Past

Celebrating The Past

- Devyani Jayakar

Khosla Associates have designed a restaurant and bar in Bengaluru which is housed in an old structure. Employing an Art Deco vocabulary, the firm has cleverly added a contemporary functionality to the space which does not clash with its retro aesthetic but actually celebrates it.

When Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand of Khosla Associates were approached to create a restaurant and bar in what used to be the 8200 sq ft warehouse for a newspaper - located, however, in prime real estate in Bengaluru - they were quite taken aback. The space had a grand 20 ft high ceiling and was wonderfully infused with natural light from the tall windows on the periphery.

“The owner was an old friend who had promised that he would approach us when he found a property worthy of our design interventions,” says Amaresh. Located within the arms of two roads which lie at right angles to each other, the plot is a triangular one. The name of restaurant, ‘1Q1’ is derived from the road number and pin code of its address - No.1 Queens Road, Bangalore 1.

“We were cognisant of the contextual reference, since this building was in the vicinity of the High Court of Karnataka, an imposing red building. So we didn’t want to just slap things together thoughtlessly,” says Sandeep. The duo instantly decided that their design for the space should echo the Art Deco influence of this building and recall the bygone era evoked by the arched colonnade which wraps itself around the structure. Accordingly, they created vaults, arches and a colonnade around this structure, integrating it into the existing fenestrations on the street level.