Grand Duk is a contemporary restaurant housed in the ground level forecourt of the iconic Grosvenor Place office building in Sydney’s CBD.The restaurant honours it’s sharp context, with a 125m² design that speaks to the existing Harry Seidler building. In a space that offers no existing front of house walls, H&E Architects have used a mixture of high and low dining options, communal tables, leather booths and dry bars, to construct a sense of intimacy.
The material palette is subtle, with aged brass, leather and black stained hand scrapped timber. The varying textures allow for increased warmth and definition in the space which is made from predominantly glass and grey stone. Drawing on some of the detailing of the tower, green onyx tabletops have been selected, giving a more specific and unique palette to the tenancy.
Working in close consultation with Harry Seidler & Associates, the final design for Grand Duk is understated and mature. It caters to a frenetic daytime customer with an open plan kitchen and an 11m long service counter. Partly open booths and banquettes and a spine-like wine display has been developed to maintain sight lines to the exterior walls and yet create a new sense of intimacy for patrons. These simple architectural devices give the restaurant a translucent and opaque rim, which establishes zones of transition between the exterior and interior zones.
Grand Duk is the recently established new partner of the Naked Duck, a restaurant that has found great success on Castlereagh Street, Sydney. The restaurant will offer lunch and breakfast, with a differentiated dinner service commencing from February 2016.
Visit the Naked Duck website here
