imperial war museum cafe, london

The ambition for the refurbishment of the Museum Cafe was to create a new benchmark for self-service restaurants. The layout of the servery has been re-modelled to provide an axial focus of hot food and display cooking before the counter turns the corner to present a cold food buffet and hot drinks station. On the far side is the express counter serving cold take away snacks and drinks.

In plan the rooms look like part of a monastery or the kitchens of a great house. All the rooms are painted white and cream but are differentiated by the various special wall finishes and spot colours of red and aubergine. The palate of materials is utilitarian but tempered by a number of playful gestures.

The servery kitchen is dominated by the counter which has a stainless steel top, a chunky terrazzo tray slide and bronze metal fronts. The cutlery station at the end is a solid block of terrazzo. Two corridor rooms open up into the two cellar dining spaces. The tables in these areas are lit by hanging conical pendants and feel more cosy. At the end of the route is the long room, characterised by the barrel-vaulted ceiling. The tables are arranged here to create a large refectory table which encourages communal eating. The final space is the apse room with its vivid painted curved wall, in front of which sits a semi-circular banquette covered in dark coloured suede fabric with a spiky chandelier above.