Neiheiser Argyros

Olive+Squash

Olive+Squash

OLIVE + SQUASH

Neiheiser Argyros

BUDGET
$100k - 500k

AREA
0 Sqft - 1000 Sqft

YEAR
2016

LOCATION
City of London, London, United Kingdom

TYPE
Hospitality + Sport › Restaurant

The project, for a start-up salad and slow food café in the City of London, has a split personality - it is a space that both accommodates our frenetic work rhythms and invites us to slow down.

Olive+Squash
Olive+Squash

It is a cafe that serves slow food fast, celebrating its locally sourced ingredients. 

The architecture therefore has two tasks; to address multiple speeds of engagement, and to provide a neutral framework that foregrounds the various shapes and colors of the vegetables, herbs, fruits, and grains on its menu.

The space is asymmetrically divided in half, with a take-out counter adjacent to the street below, and a dining room in a newly constructed mezzanine above.

Olive+Squash
Olive+Squash
Olive+Squash

The space below is neutral, cool, and hard, allowing the bright colors and geometries of the raw produce to be the primary material.

Above, the palette is warm, textured, and soft, inviting visitors to gather and linger over their meal.

To physically divide, but visually connect these two distinct spaces Neiheiser Argyros have constructed a white metal grid.

Olive+Squash
Olive+Squash
Olive+Squash

A contemporary echo of the traditional farmer’s trellis, the grid hosts plants, flowers, herbs, menu signage, and integrated seating.

This simple device articulates multiple spatial relationships in a single gesture; defining the primary spaces, framing views, curating movement, and providing a defining identity for the store.

Olive+Squash


Olive+Squash
Olive+Squash


Olive+Squash


Olive+Squash

Neiheiser Argyros
T +44 20 32040288
Neiheiser Argyros
59 Lonsdale Rd, London NW6 6RA, United Kingdom