La Café, a bistro located at New Delhi’s GK-1 Market, channels a calm but still sumptuous elegance that befits its upscale surroundings.
La Café is an upmarket, rooftop bistro standing atop a fashion store called High Street at New Delhi’s GK-1 Market, a happening, uber cool area where most of the city’s beautiful crowd hangs out and shops. “The rooftop bistro atop a fashion store called for a style-driven yet understated design, which made a clear inference to the cuisine served, yet did not interfere with the spectacular view of treetops that the terrace offered,” states Ankur Choksi, one of the partners in Delhi-based architecture and design firm, Lotus.
Simplicity and understated elegance were the two key words that guided the design process. From the street below you can actually see the restaurant’s ceiling, which is why the designers made it the focal point of the stylisation process. The space also features Renaissance-inspired frescos, which work as reflectors of light in the evenings.
A small open-to-the-sky courtyard was retained for use during good weather, when customers could sit out and dine. The entrance wall, clad in brick, became the connecting feature, along with a long solid wood bench and a stretch of greenery that seems to bring the outdoors in.
Slatted wooden blinds surround the clear glass perimeter, allowing a panoramic view of the skyline and the setting sun. The lighting is subtle, dominated by lamps with pleated silk lampshades. Pale green solid acrylic table-tops with walnut-stained wooden low-back chairs and banquettes work well with the stylish interiors.
The aspirational quality that the design team from Lotus infuses here is all about the space and its vision for itself. The design scheme relies on a very urban, chic language that does not depend on any clichés.
