Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Half Dose #12: Inn The Park

It's been a few months since I've done one of these, so I figured it's time to start up the "half doses" again.

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The first time I saw a photograph of Inn The Park, a new restaurant in St. James Park by Michael Hopkins, I was pleased with its simplicity and the way it fits into the park, like it belonged there or had always been there. Though Hopkins is usually grouped with other high-tech Brits like Lord Foster and Richard Rogers, here he subdues that tendency in favor of a natural palette that nevertheless exhibits his tectonic skill.

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Basically, the building is a one-story structure housing a restaurant and toilet facilities. A glass wall with sliding panels and a veranda overlook the adjacent lake. The whole of the project is beneath a grass roof that makes the building blend into the park even more than these photos attest.

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It's refreshing to see an architect show some restraint in creating a park folly that is a pleasing extension of its natural surroundings.

Links:
- Hopkins Architects.
- Inn The Park.
- Europaconcorsi's page with text and images.

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