Avec Wine Bar, Chicago

McVicar, Mhairi Thomson ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5405-7809 2004. Avec Wine Bar, Chicago. [photographic record]. Chicago, IL, USA. Available at: https://www.avecrestaurant.com/

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Abstract

The wine bar Avec, 619 West Randolph Street, Chicago, was completed in 2003, and won national USA restaurant industry award, the James Beard Award, for Outstanding Restaurant Design in 2005. The project resulted from a collaborative design effort, consisting of Donnie Madia (Owner), Thomas Schlessor (Designer) and McVicar (Associate Architect) working for James and Kutyla Architecture, Chicago. The project was the build-out of a long, narrow ground floor space in an existing 3-storey masonry townhouse on the west side of Chicago. The owners acted as general contractors. design charrettes and site meetings took place practically daily, with the design developing in response to the adapting skills, budgets and time constraints experienced by restaurateurs acting as general contractors. Conceptually, the project began with the act of sharing, reflected in the name and menu of the restaurant; focusing on community and on sharing an experience in an informal, noisy, convivial space, interior materials referenced the warm, earthy themes of the vineyard and wine making process, referencing stone pebbles, wood barrels, stainless steel vats, and glass bottles. A taut cedar tube inserted into the narrow existing masonry shell compensated for the tightness of the space by clearly and simply framing the dining area, through use of a rigorously precise dimensional cedar module. The prescribed precision of the cedar wall, the compromises which took place within the construction process, and the anticipation of weathering and softening of precision though the use of the project were detailed in an academic paper (to be published in the WSA Journal, Made), which explored the stance taken towards the prediction of a detail, and the acceptance of adaptation of constructed materials. The outcome of this project has resulted in an ongoing PhD study examining the gap between the precision of predictive specifications and drawings, and the constructed result.

Item Type:	Artefact
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Architecture
Last Modified:	27 Feb 2025 14:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/2247

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