Conduit is a new restaurant in San Francisco designed by architects Stanley Saitowitz, which features lots of pipes.
The interior features exposed tubes added to the existing plumbing pipes, sprinkler system and electrical ducts of the space, on the ground floor of a new residential building.
See Mizu Spa by Stanley Saitowitz in our earlier story.
Here’s some text from the architects:
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Conduit Restaurant emerged from the found circumstances. The ground floor commercial space in a new residential building had a low ceiling and a tangled maze of plumbing, sprinkler and electrical conduits serving the residences above.
To cover these pipes would have further reduced the space. Instead, even more conduits were layered over the existing to counteract and remediate the situation.
At the entry is a long fireplace. Behind, table seating fills the room. A series of conduit screens in galvanized or copper color divide the tables. On the right is an open bar made of stacked bars of conduit. Glass shelves support the bottles. The other end is banquet seating on a bench, hovering in light, divided into a series of conduit alcoves.
At the end of the room another bar frames the open kitchen, a well-lit stage for the cooks. Seating at this bar allows patrons to watch the performance close up. The floor has black granite paths with a large mat that locates the black wood laminate tables.
Behind the kitchen is a glass and conduit-enclosed cellar and private dining room. Wine is stored in a perforated black wood wall. Beyond are the bathroom enclosures of entirely etched glass, with a continuous trough sink and long mirror above.
The atmosphere is sleek and hip, as well as rich and warm. Conduit disproves the old adage by making a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
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Posted by Rose Etherington
July 25th, 2008 at 12:35 am
The restrooms are cool, but the rest…YIKES! There had to be a better way.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:32 am
special…maybe more use of colored conduits had less industrial effect on views…
July 25th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Super
July 25th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I ate there last month. Nice space overall, but nowhere near as polished (literally) as these photos suggest. For minimalism as pure as Mr. Saitowitz’s a big, big budget is required to do it right.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Very cool use of a standard, mundane material. Though not as simple as it seems; I don’t see any fittings joining the lengths of conduit…they must have been welded and ground smooth, or maybe expoxied over an internal sleeve. An extremely time-consuming, labour-intensive process.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
looks like a glorified Chipotle.
the bathrooms are pretty nice though.
good sink.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Let’s just hope the food tastes as good as the restaurant looks !
July 29th, 2008 at 3:49 am
food is better than the the restaurant looks, and it looks pretty nice in person.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
i think it is realy inovative ..the use of materials and color it makes unity through the resturant but the rest rooms are not part of the whole!
August 1st, 2008 at 3:20 am
Suggests a place far removed from where food comes from.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am
could be more colourful
September 26th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
it’s a bit overkill, don’t you think? I mean, if somebody is going to take the name of a restaurant and end up doing the most obvious and literal interpretation of the name, you’d would think they would have a little restraint instead of pounding the idea into your head.
Alright! we get it, they’re conduits!