New York, United States
INABA
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong
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| Photo © Courtesy of Naho Kubota |
As part of 2010, the
Whitney Biennial, Jeffrey Inaba’s firm, INABA, was commissioned to design a pop‐up
café located in the museum’s interior courtyard. The project consists of three (3) large‐scale lanterns that occupy the courtyard’s double‐height space, a 24‐foot long service counter, communal tables, high‐top counters and ‘droopy’ seat cushions.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Naho Kubota |
However bold in form or expressive in materials, it was striking to us that postwar architecture is vulnerable to appearing cold, incomplete and lacking in detail. Depending on the character of the interior design, even the strongest statements of
modern architecture can today sometimes verge on feeling unadorned, like a dentist office waiting area. We wanted to add another scale of detail and information to the Breuer building’s interior. Only instead of using stark simple forms and exposed
natural materials, we tried to enhance the space, to ‘re‐humanize’ it, with curved shapes and a palette of synthetic materials (fiberglass, resin, nylon, acrylic and vinyl).
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| Photo © Courtesy of Naho Kubota |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Naho Kubota |
In conjunction with Jeffrey Inaba’s Columbia University‐based group, C‐Lab, INABA developed
graphic design elements for the café, including T‐shirts, signage and the menu. In addition, they created order cards, which together comprise an unofficial
Whitney Museum of American Art Building Materials Collection. Each card shows the front and back surface of a material found in the Breuer building.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Naho Kubota |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Naho Kubota |
The café is operated by Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, and features sandwiches created specifically for the pop‐up by USHG’s renowned chefs. The menu items are available at the Whitney only, for the duration of this installation.
The café, called ‘Sandwiched,’ will serve visitors until the opening of a permanent restaurant in September 2010.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Naho Kubota |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Naho Kubota |
The people
Architects: INABA, C‐Lab
Location: New York, USA
Lantern Fabrication: Kreysler & Associates
Furniture Fabrication: Atta Inc
Upholstery: Greg Georgi
Lighting: Doug Russell, Lighting Workshop
Engineering: Arup, New York
Area: 2,200 SF
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Naho Kubota
