In the center of bustling Times Square, with its garish neon-colored signage, fast-food restaurants and Broadway theaters, is an oasis for fine dining in a setting that reflects the finest of modern design. The Blue Fin restaurant at the W Hotel projects an elegant sea theme enhanced by a subtle and integrated lighting design. 'Times Square has become a thematic playground, but we designed the W hotel there and believe that it is about modern design,' explained Glenn Pushelberg, managing partner of Toronto-based Yabu Pushelberg, the firm that designed the interiors and lighting for Blue Fin. 'We also held the belief that in addition to tourists, who would dine at the restaurant on their way to seeing a Broadway play, the media and financial people who work and live in the area would enjoy going to a more sophisticated venue for dinner.'


The 8,200-sq.-ft. restaurant seats approximately 375 and operates on two levels that are different but complementary in character. The open, high-energy ground level accommodates faster turnaround and is ideal for the lunch/brunch crowd. The more subdued second floor is tailored in style for quiet dinners and includes rooms that can be sectioned off for private parties.

'Overall, Blue Fin is not intimate-it's a machine, designed to project 'class for the masses,'' said Pushelberg. 'The trick with two stories is creating a harmony between them.' The sea theme and the lighting elements that enhance it are key to the visual connection of the two levels. The guest is invited to explore the depths of the dark sea at the entryway. 'The light level in the storefront is relatively low,' said Pushelberg. 'With brightly lighted ads in Times Square all around it, there would be no signage large enough or bright enough to compete.' Instead, Yabu Pushelberg created ceiling-to-floor glass frontage to allow the interior-lit rectangular resin pedestal tables near the bar at the entrance to glow like beacons and attract the attention of passersby. The tables house 55W compact fluorescents surface-mounted to the floor inside the bases.

The high-ceilinged ground level eating area is distinguished by a monumental wall adorned with sand-colored waves made of sculpted plaster. Their three-dimensionality is emphasized by grazing from adjustable 50W MR 16 downlights.

Banquettes along the opposite wall are made more intimate by the lowered ceiling above them. Like dapples of light rays glinting just beneath the water's surface as they hit the flora on a shallow bottom, custom-designed white acrylic pendants are illuminated brightly with 50W A19s and doubled in impact via their suspension next to a mirrored wall. The wall has its own glow from linear T5 fluorescents concealed behind narrow acrylic strips that are set vertically between panels of what is actually highly reflective stainless-steel laminate. The laminate also extends the sea theme by reflecting the wave wall across from it.

The glass-paneled grand staircase connecting the two levels allows guests to see and be seen. Guests are welcomed at the stop of the staircase by a mobile abstractly representing a school of fish, designed by Japanese artist, Hirotoshi Sawada.

The darker and moodier second level includes custom-designed decorative incandescent pendants made of intertwined strands of hemp on antique mirror frames shaped to resemble fishing traps. Dark leather banquettes on the second level are enveloped in amber walls adorned with horizontal metal striping. Wallwashers fitted with 100W PAR38s are surface-mounted into ceiling coves for additional subtle illumination.

On both levels, general illumination also comes from 50W MR16 adjustable downlights and 50W AR11 units. Additional furniture and ceiling elements use surface-mounted 28W T5 fluorescents.

Just as the sea's powerful mystery involves both what it reveals and conceals, so the ocean theme of Blue Fin is reinforced by a seamless blending of visible decorative lighting elements with recessed features that unobtrusively project light.


DETAILS

PROJECT: Blue Fin Restaurant
OWNER: BR Guest-Stephan Hanson
LOCATION: New York, NY
INTERIOR DESIGN: Yabu Pushelberg-George Yabu, designer, Glenn Pushelberg, Marcia MacDonald, Mary Mark, Reg Andrade, Sunny Leung, Marc Gaudet, Eduardo Figueredo, Kevin Storey
PERMIT ARCHITECT: Brennan Beer Gorman Architects-Mario LaGuardia and Kevin Brown
CONTRACTOR: JT Magen & Co. Inc.; Pancor Industries Ltd.; Martin Thomas Contracting Inc.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Desimone Consulting Engineers
MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS: Lehr Associates, Consulting Engineers
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Evan Dion; Eric Laignel
LIGHTING MANUFACTURERS: TPL Marketing, Inc.; Lucifer; Litelab; Bartco; LSI; Belfer; Leviton; Unit Five Mfg. Co.


April 2003 Architectural Lighting Magazine