Art deco extravagance
David Connor is bemused. As part of high-profile architectural practice Powell-Tuck, Connor and Orefelt, he has designed countless homes, offices and shops, from California to Catalonia, in a sparse, modern style that has won him much praise.
Yet it's the warm, cavernous and richly coloured Art Deco interior of the Atlantic bar and restaurant behind Piccadilly Circus that's packing in the punters.
London hasn't experienced anything like it in a long time. Since its opening in May, people have been queuing round the block to be seen among the glittering crowd of models, pop stars and wannabees that enjoy the atmosphere at the Atlantic.
Strangely, it had never been a desire of Connor's to design a restaurant. This project cropped up when his friend, the Atlantic proprietor Oliver Peyton, suggested the idea. Peyton was convinced that the site, below the Regent Palace Hotel, built on a generous scale with lavish Art Deco fittings, would work. He was inspired by the Café Opera in Stockholm - an opulent restaurant and bar - and wanted to create a "place to be seen".
But it was a tough site to convert: the entrance is at ground level, and the main room and side bar are in the basement. With high ceilings and no natural light, it had potential to be very gloomy. Connor and Peyton spent long nights studying plans, trying to make the space work.
"You'd be surprised at how low the budget was," says Peyton. Over £70,000 of it went on lighting. Art Deco-style box light strips with gilt edges and filled with around 500 tungsten lights were recessed in the ceiling. "Replacing them is a full-time job," says Peyton.
Minimal alterations have been made to the decor. Connor wanted to highlight the original marbled pillars, carved woodwork and gilt crests. So he painted the walls in blocks of strong colour to match the upholstery on the bar chairs and banquettes. The ceiling is midnight blue.
Dick's bar, a cosy room to the side of the main room, has a Casablanca feel to it. But it's the main room, a masterpiece of planning, that takes your breath away.
It is divided by a huge, 20m-long, curved bar, to the left of which, according to Connor, is the "serious drinking area". Slightly apart and to the right is the more "casual drinking area", filled with tables and soft chairs, which leads into the dining area. Here, flickering candles and white tablecloths provide an enticing contrast to the colourful chaos of the bar. The uniformity of the chairs and tables along the wall is disrupted by large, wave-shaped banquettes with velour patchwork. "The banquettes cost about 10p," says Connor. But they achieve the desired impact.
The clever thing about the Atlantic's interior is just that - a trick, maximum glamour for minimum cost. Upholstery fabric is £8 a metre velour. Parquet flooring, already looking authentically battered, uses the thinnest veneer. Many of the bar chairs, already upholstered in green velvet, were discovered in the hotel's storeroom.
Connor says: "What I like about this space is the way it encourages the restaurant crowd to mingle with the bar crowd. It's a room built around human interaction. People don't care that the furnishings are low budget."
However, the Atlantic is still a work-in-progress. Peyton is purchasing some original artwork from a variety of young British artists, to liven up the wall. And a third basement room will shortly be converted into a function room or a spillover from the main bar. Peyton promises that this room "will be restored to its original splendour" - which presumably means more Art Deco extravagance.
