53

Challenge

Inspired by Chinese imperial palaces, Taoist principles, and contemporary art, 53 sought to create a distinctive dining experience beneath MoMA’s new David Geffen wing. The challenge was to draw upon millennia of history, art, culture, and craftsmanship to create a painterly dining experience worthy of its iconic location.

Solution

Journey designed a series of immersive dining environments spanning three floors, blending fine dining, contemporary art, and Taoist design principles. In the spirit of its location, the renowned Friedrich Petzel Gallery collaborated in a curatorial partnership to showcase a rotating art program throughout the restaurant.

A Culinary Kaleidoscope

Directly under the new David Geffen wing of MoMA in New York City, the 11,000-square-foot restaurant spans three floors and features distinct dining areas: a street-level bistro, a cellar-level main dining room, and Ba53ment, 53’s subterranean speakeasy.

Diners move through a series of “galleries”, going from one scene to the next and seemingly inhabiting the artwork.

The Main Dining Room

The sunken, double-height main dining room has been imagined as a landscape diorama, visible from street level, showcasing an aerial view and revealing a modern dining room, bustling by day and glowing by night.

With a unique opportunity to view the space from above/below,  the Journey team designed a series of blades that flow from the ground floor to the dining room, representing the “chi” or balanced energy flowing through the space.

The most common representation of Taoism is the Yin-Yang figure, a concept of duality that runs throughout the restaurant’s experiences codified in the alternation between matte/glossy surfaces and neutral/saturated edge bands.

Ba53ment

53’s subterranean speakeasy, Ba53ment, draws inspiration from regal Asian motifs, blending traditional and contemporary elements into its own distinctive design.