Re-energising the heart of the city
Tuesday 1230: You're on your way for a casual business meeting at the SkyGarden, the restaurant atop the Blue Coral building. You ascend the escalators through the circular atrium, and along the way you notice a couple of things you might stop by to take a closer look at on your way back from lunch..... you make your way past the contemporary design of the juice bar in the restaurant and step out to a view over the city - this is the shaded deck of the SkyGarden dining terrace, overlooking the Boulevard - and you realize that this would be a great place for you to take your date on Friday....
... and so on Friday evening you make your way into the dramatic 'vortex' foyer of the Blue Coral with your date. This time you don't take the escalator, but instead the lift, up to the third floor. The lift opens onto a surprise - a serene outdoor bamboo courtyard.
Subtly lit, it immediately 'transports you away from the city below. The curve of the top of the vortex atrium forms a sculptural backdrop as you cross the courtyard to the SkyGarden restaurant for an intimate dinner overlooking the city. After dinner you decide to catch a late show at the cinema, so you slip down the staircase to the lounge bar for a pre-movie drink, and on to the cinema to carry on the evening....
Designed to cater to the business or executive lunch trade (Why suffer through traffic for half of your lunch hour, when you can lunch at the Skygarden), as well as shoppers during the day, and fine dining in the evening, the Skygarden will be a unique experience - a quality restaurant in the heart of the city, yet away from the hustle below. On one side the terrace will embrace a view over the Boulevard and across to the harbour, and the opposite side will open to a landscaped roof garden.
The perfect place for business lunches, or for shoppers wishing to take a break, the SkyGarden will be one of the daytime attractions of the building, a fashionable rendezvous point, drawing patrons up through the heart of the shopping centre, to enjoy an experience that one typically has to leave the city for. In the evening, it will cater for pre-theatre diners taking in the lights of the city, or intimate dinners for two at the bamboo garden. The SkyGarden is an integral part of the experience concept.
At night the main 'desire path' on the ground floor is closed at both ends with roller shutters for security, and the entrance and exit is exclusively via the middle entrance on Bridge Street - forming the 'Vortex' lobby. An unobtrusive concierge/security/information desk in the foyer creates a control point, and patrons are free to casually browse the merchandise on display in the shop fronts as they make their way up to the entertainment level. Again the design allows for maximum retail/display exposure for the tenants, even at night.
The escalator arrives at the swirling gallery foyer around the atrium of second floor entertainment level, near the ticketing and reception desk. To the right will be the cinemas, housed beyond the slanting curving wall of the foyer. On the opposite side of the gallery foyer from the ticketing desk is a fully glazed frontage overlooking Bridge Street, allowing patrons to see and be seen as they mill about the space. Here will be a transient seating area for cinema patrons waiting for friends, grabbing 5 minutes before the start of the movie, or perhaps drinking a coffee pre-theatre. Off the foyer is the sophisticated atmosphere of the lounge bar, with its backlit space and its unique conversation tables. Semi circular banquettes occupy the spaces in front of the vertical windows overlooking the Boulevard, and the custom designed seating will encourage a relaxed, convivial atmosphere.
A staircase, designed as a sculptural backdrop to the lounge bar space, leads to the SkyGarden restaurant. Castries requires a catalyst to attract life back into the city in the evening. Simply put, the proposals for the second floor of the Blue Coral building will house two cinemas, a studio theatre and a lounge bar, but the design is not just about what it can accommodate - like the lower floors the proposal has been carefully designed to create an experience, a place. A place where people can meet, socialize, partake in local theatre or international cinema. A place where a couple can go for an intimate dinner, or old friends can socialize in a relaxed setting. A venue designed so that one can spend the whole evening, enjoying all, or just one of the experiences on offer - a destination in the city.