Noma, a restaurant that has been named the best in the world four times by World’s 50 Best Restaurants, has moved from the 16th century harborside warehouse it has called home for the past 14 years. Its new abode was built on the site of a protected ex-military warehouse once used to store mines for the Royal Dutch Navy.
Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) as an intimate garden village, the new location dissolves the restaurant’s individual functions into a collection of separate but connected buildings. There are 11 spaces in total, each one tailored to its specific needs, and densely clustered around the kitchen.
Dining room. Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
The kitchen is designed as a panopticon, which allows the chefs to oversee the entire kitchen, the dining room, and the private dining room. The kitchen and guest spaces are made of stacked timber planks meant to look like neatly stacked wood at a timber yard.
See Also: WeWork names BIG’s Ingels as its Chief Architect
Outside, three free-standing glass houses provide the restaurant’s garden, bakery, and test kitchen. The garden is visible to guests via a set of sliding windows. A large skylight helps bring in natural light to the kitchen and various dining spaces. Also included in the new restaurant are a barbeque and a lounge. Guests can explore each space and move between buildings via glass-encased connecting spaces.
Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
BIG preserved the existing warehouses shell and used it for all the back-of-house functions such as the prep kitchen, fermentation labs, fish tanks, ant farms, terrarium, and break-out areas for staff.
Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
“The new noma dissolves the traditional idea of a restaurant into its constituent parts and reassembles them in a way that puts the chefs at the heart of it all,” says Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG.
The restaurant provides just under 14,000 sf of space across its 11 buildings.
Entrance. Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
Lounge area. Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
Dining room and kitchen. Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
Private dining room. Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
Greenhouse. Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
Kitchen. Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
Display hallway. Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Former nightclub morphing into a shopping center
New York City's Limelight, the one-time notorious church-turned-nightclub, will be restored again, this time as a 25,000-sf retail marketplace. Limelight Marketplace founder Jack Menashe hopes to merge lavish atmospheric elements with cutting-edge fashion, beauty, and gourmet retailers like BookSmart, Caswell Massy, J.
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.
| Aug 11, 2010
New pavilion planned for famous boulevard
Located in a prime spot along Santa Monica Boulevard in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Pavilion will have 9,000 sf of retail space, 35,500 sf of office space, and two below-grade parking levels when it opens in late 2010. The $10 million, three-story building extends a full length of the block to create a window wall of blue-gray translucent, fritted glass panels ove...
| Aug 11, 2010
Mixed-use Seattle high-rise earns LEED Gold
Seattle’s 2201 Westlake development became the city’s first mixed-use and high-rise residential project to earn LEED Gold. Located in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, the newly completed 450,000-sf complex includes 300,000 sf of Class A office space, 135 luxury condominiums (known as Enso), and 25,000 sf of retail space.
| Aug 11, 2010
Expanding retail complex is LEED pre-certified
The Promenade at Coconut Creek in Broward County, Fla., a live-work-play shopping and lifestyle center, is being expanded by 105,000 sf. When phase II of the 335,000-sf project is complete, the facility will house 75 retailers, restaurants, and related services, making it one of the largest mixed-use projects in northern Broward County.
| Aug 11, 2010
CityCenter projects get LEED Gold
MGM Mirage and Infinity World Development have received LEED Gold certification for the first three CityCenter projects: the ARIA Resort hotel tower, ARIA Resort convention center and theater, and the Vdara Hotel (above). The CityCenter developers anticipate Gold or Silver LEED certification for the project's remaining developments, which include a Mandarin Oriental hotel, a 500,000-sf retail a...
| Aug 11, 2010
RMJM unveils design details for $1B green development in Turkey
RMJM has unveiled the design for the $1 billion Varyap Meridian development it is master planning in Istanbul, Turkey's Atasehir district, a new residential and business district. Set on a highly visible site that features panoramic views stretching from the Bosporus Strait in the west to the Sea of Marmara to the south, the 372,000-square-meter development includes a 60-story tower, 1,500 resi...
| Aug 11, 2010
'Feebate' program to reward green buildings in Portland, Ore.
Officials in Portland, Ore., have proposed a green building incentive program that would be the first of its kind in the U.S. Under the program, new commercial buildings, 20,000 sf or larger, that meet Oregon's state building code would be assessed a fee by the city of up to $3.46/sf. The fee would be waived for buildings that achieve LEED Silver certification from the U.
| Aug 11, 2010
Manhattan's Pier 57 to be transformed into $210 million cultural center
LOT-EK, Beyer Blinder Belle, and West 8 have been selected as the design team for Hudson River Park's $210 million Pier 57 redevelopment, headed by local developer Young Woo & Associates. The 375,000-sf vacant passenger ship terminal will be transformed into a cultural center, small business incubator, and public park, including a rooftop venue for the Tribeca Film Festival.
