Bardot / Antiparos
Status: Completed 2023
Client: Bardot
Type: Restaurant-bar
Located on the off-the-grid Cycladic island of Antiparos, Bardot transforms the former home of a local shipbuilding family into a new bar and restaurant. The design embraces both traditional craft and contemporary influences without indulging in nostalgia or erasing the past. The result is a seamless convergence of techniques, eras, styles, and cultures – artisanal and engineered, historic and modern, minimalist and ornamental, foreign and domestic. True to its namesake, Bardot exudes an ambiguous mystique.
The revived building nixes a series of prior renovations that left behind a mangled architectural carcass. The front door is returned to its original position, restoring the entry sequence through an open forecourt. The façade – composed of hay, clay, and limestone stucco – also recovers its former dignity, exposing richly-textured stones embedded in the walls for structural strength. This traditional masonry work was surgically revealed using archaeological tools.
Inside, a series of grotto-like spaces are coated in a white limestone wash common throughout the Greek Isles. The bar is perched on a double-curved clay surface that mimics the contours of the surrounding walls. Crafted from solid walnut wood with a lustrous marine-grade lacquered finish, the thick, rounded mass of the countertop appears suspended in mid-air. Intimate rooms conjoin this upscale cocktail bar, offering domestic scales and atmospheres. Built-in seating emerges from the walls, including an antique fireplace that morphs into a cozy daybed. Mirrors strategically placed in crevices produce a trompe l’oeil effect.
Rather than attempting to embellish the blank façades of neighboring buildings, Bardot doubles down on this site condition by increasing the height of the courtyard walls. Complementing the interior grotto geology, these abstracted canyons – ridged by dragging a spoon-like tool across fresh stucco – are reminiscent of minimalist artist Robert Rayman's textured surfaces. The hemmed-in courtyard frames the sky and provides much-needed protection against the harsh Aegean sun.
The design unifies the interior and exterior floors with Miltos, a copper-toned mineral revered by the ancient Greeks as a super-substance and one likely employed by the building's ex-resident shipbuilders. Inside, a red ochre, limestone, and sand mixture traditionally used in flooring produces a smooth and sensuous surface. Outside, handcrafted clay tiles infused with red ochre form the patio, folding vertically and horizontally to create tiers, banquettes, and a new planter for a hardy olive tree – a survivor of previous renovations and a symbol of longevity.
The furniture is a collection of modern and mid-century pieces alongside antiques and found objects rooted in Mediterranean history. A wooden churn once used to make butter now serves as a stool, while ancient oil jars adorn openings on the wall and windows. Painted murals and ceramic plates by artist Christianna Economou lend a playful twist on Greek and Cycladic culture. Taken together, these old and new elements reimagine the fresh Aegean ambiance.
