Magnet is an exercise in simplicity. It is the transformation of an auto parts repair shop into a restaurant. UNDECORATED was commissioned by Prince Concepts and partner Chef Brad Greenhill, of Takoi, to design their second restaurant in a former radiator shop. From the inception, several non-negotiables were established: 1. The restaurant would be called Magnet 2. Magnet had to be a bar-centric restaurant - the bar had to be integrated with dining room 3. The food offerings would be inspired by Mediterranean cuisine borrowing from the simple tradition of cooking with wood. The kitchen would house a wood-burning oven and wood-burning grill only 4. Magnet should feature an open kitchen from dining room 5. Booth seating 6. Feature views of neighboring Core City Park.

Thinking abstractly about the restaurant, the “bar magnet” and its laws of attraction was an inspiring idea. Its organizational principles are apparent in classic experiments that show iron shavings arranging themselves around a bar magnet, demonstrating the otherwise invisible magnetic field. UNDECORATED was fascinated by the simple yet sophisticated method of cooking with wood inside a masonry structure.

The phenomenon of heat, in this case, is the combination of wood as a source for fire as well as the masonry vessel which distributes heat formally and retains heat as a thermal mass. To begin the design process, the services had to be developed first. UNDECORATED sat down with the client to understand their ambition for Magnet from a kitchen, bar, and services standpoint.

A series of square areas, or “program boxes,” for each space was sized with this knowledge. The program studies showed that the services occupied most of the existing building, leaving little space for a dining room. So, UNDECORATED decided to place the passive services without guest interface outside of the existing building on underutilized land in the rear. They were placed in three separate twenty-foot shipping containers.

Secondly, the bathrooms were placed outside of the existing structure towards Core City Park with the intention of combining bathroom services for the restaurant as well as the park. The transfer of the program outside the existing building expanded the size of the dining room. It was further expanded by incorporating the bar into the center of the dining room. The bar subsequently behaves like the “bar magnet” in organizing circulation and space around it.

Like UNDECORATED’s first restaurant, Takoi, a shared visual datum for everyone in the restaurant was important. The central bar challenged this concept. Typically, bar seating is higher than dining seating, creating a visual disconnect between guests. For Magnet, this concern was solved by lowering the bar to the level of the surrounding tables. The singular visual datum, accentuated by the placement of the central bar, curates a visual narrative within the restaurant. Consequently, it also established a visual dialogue between the diners and Core City Park.

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