MONSOON RESTAURANT

LOCATION: SAN FRANCISCO

DATE: 1989

PROGRAM: RESTAURANT

SIZE: 3,000 SF

Monsoon is a remodeled Chinese restaurant in the opera district of San Francisco. Divided into two zones, a bar designed for light eating and interaction and a more formal dining area, this scheme accommodates both the diner looking for a quiet meal and the diner out to see-and-be-seen. A wood and aluminum bench and low wall snakes through the space to define these two zones.

The slight arc of the bench puts people on display in the bar area while simultaneously wrapping around the dining area like a protective arm. This bench defines the extent of a platform which raises the dining area above the bustle of the bar. Existing booths in the bar zone were given more presence by the addition of a stepped, serrated, colored stucco wall at their backs. This palette of materials: wood, aluminum, and stucco, unifies the other insertions, shelves which spring from various positions and wooden arcades which accentuate movement through the space.

CLIENT: Bruce Cost

DESIGN TEAM: Mark Mack, Mark Jensen

PUBLICATIONS:

-San Francisco Chronicle, November 8 1989

-San Francisco Examiner, November 3 1989

-SF Magazine, February 1990 "Monsoon: Classic Chinese Eatery Goes Modern"

San Francisco Focus, April 1990

-Restaurant Design 2 , 1990

-Architecture, June 1990, "Golden Gateway"

-Home and Garden, February 1992