Session Kitchen is a restaurant designed to showcase and celebrate the intersection of art, culture, community, food, and music. Twelve major installations from a hand picked group of global artists inspired the design and act as the integral elements that shape the dining experience in the gallery-like restaurant. The design of the interior gives the space a coherent feel uniting three distinct bar areas and two unique dining spaces over two levels within the nearly 4,000 sq. ft. dining area
Materials and furnishings taken from the urban, natural, and built environment are repurposed, combined, and arranged throughout the space. The main bar uses random length and width rectangular concrete pavers on the bar face. The main dining area has a series of banquet seats inspired city park benches. End grain wood block tiles line the floor and bar face of the intimately scaled Session Bar. Upstairs, the bar is sheathed in hot rolled steel with a woven steel mesh ceiling. These elements are offset by the rough-cut wood blocks holding up the shelving behind the bar and the striking scale and color of the artwork.
In addition to creating the interior design of the space, the architects contributed three unique art pieces for the restaurant, one of which is a ceiling sculpture suspended over the main bar. The piece, constructed in collaboration with LumiGeek lighting engineers and artist Jen Lewin, embodies the themes of movement, energy and emotion consists of 450 fluorescent tubes illuminated by 900 feet of point controlled LED tape. These computer-controlled clusters of light morph and change to affect the feeling and emotion of the entire restaurant experience.
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