Table 1280 occupies a key location in the Renzo Piano-designed Woodruff Arts Center complex, forming one side of a primary public “piazza”. With its dramatic floor-to-ceiling glazing, light and activity inside the restaurant spill onto the piazza creating an improvisational performance that beckons passersby.
Respecting the large, gallery-like spaces, Bergmeyer designed a collection of discreet “functional sculptures” that organize and define the various zones of the restaurant. While these elements share the Woodruff’s larger themes of lightness and layering, they are constructed of an ethereal resin unique to the restaurant.
Critical to this project’s success was the strategic partnership that developed between Bergmeyer and MB Wellington Studio who developed a product called “Lightcast” in response to the project’s need for an affordable, durable, and luminous material. Lightcast proved to be so versatile, it became the project’s signature, finding it way from the host station, to the bar, to the dining tables even a through-wall sink basin connecting the men’s and women’s restrooms.
By also establishing partnerships with furniture and wine cabinet manufacturers during the earliest stages of design, Bergmeyer was able to deliver an award-winning high-end environment on a modest budget.