The Building
The Hopkins designed building is nestled in the 1828 Nash landscaped park, amongst the trees, on the edge of the lake. With such a beautiful and historic setting, Hopkins Architects set out to create a modern design that worked thoughtfully with the original intentions of Nash’s design and did not impose itself on the unspoiled urban oasis. The result is that from The Mall and most parts of the park the building blends invisibly into the rolling landscape. Whilst walking from Horse Guards Parade or Admiralty Arch it emerges; an elegant, wood-clad shelter with glazed frontage and roof top pathway looking across the lake to Duck Island and onwards as far as the London Eye.

Warm Austrian larch, contrasting with concrete and stainless steel, was chosen to reinforce the calm and timeless feeling of the historic park. The larch, from sustainably managed forests, forms the primary structure and envelope of the building and has been left untreated to gradually weather over time.

The Interior
Inside, the dining room is divided from the kitchen and take-away area by chunky white marble booths with black patterned leather banquettes. Chairs are constructed out of tubular polished stainless steel topped with patterned black or purple crocodile leather cushions, table tops are crafted out of burgundy stove enamel.

The lighting is striking. The building design maximizes the use of natural light with three large holes bored through the roof flooding the back of the restaurant with daylight, whilst running the length of the room are suspended Tom Dixon’s impossible to miss mirrored lights. With the lights on, the larch wood floor and ceiling glows with a honeyed intensity.

Behind the marble partition, ‘grab & go’ food is displayed in elegant bronze refrigerators, whilst either side of a giant three-metre long grill, bountiful displays of freshly baked produce form impossibly precarious piles along a terrazzo counter.

The Exterior
Outside, the majority of the wooden terrace is covered and heated. Sturdy wire chairs replete with purple leather mock-croc cushions accompany marble topped tables. The far end of the terrace, open to the elements, looks up towards Buckingham Palace. A flight of steps at the end of the building leads to the grassed roof, where a wooden banquette follows the ‘swoop’ of the walkway, which extends Nash’s paths over the top of the building and down the other side. From here all visitors can enjoy the sublime views, the perfect vantage point for the daily Pelican feeding or a comfortable seat for reading a book and nibbling a sandwich.