Transformation from one state to another is the nature of this city,
but to accomplish more than the thinness of the next idea a space must span the
thresholds between these transformations. We utilized New York’s profound
energy by harnessing and focusing it to create a place that allows people and
time to intermingle and create something that is timeless and ever changing,
suspended between the two.
The design for Red Egg grew out of its location, both local and
cultural, as well as its cuisine. Located where Chinatown collides with Nolita
and Soho, the city cracks open revealing itself in all its diverse glory. We
created a place that offers a menu ranging from traditional Hong Kong dim sum
to the complex cuisine that grew out of the influx of Chinese culture in Latin
America. Using a matrix of time and menu flow, we developed a spatial system
defined by material thresholds that adjusts its mood and organization to allow
for the merging and interaction of the cultures and cuisines from the morning
until late night.
The system was overlaid with the local dynamics, as the Chinatown
customer integrated with the fashion forward Soho and Lower East Side customer,
or the wining and dining banker with the local regular stopping in for dinner.
The result is a space that exists at the threshold between all the colliding
influences, at once changeable and unchanging.