Audax Updates ONE Restaurant and Bar
Audax Revamps Mark McEwan's ONE Bar with Jewel-Tones and Sleek Metals
January 2016 (Toronto) - A chandelier with blown-glass pendants that resemble floating clouds now hangs above an oval stone-topped table in the centre of celebrity chef Mark McEwan's ONE Restaurant Bar and Lounge. Located inside Toronto's exclusive Hazelton Hotel, the eye-catching fixture and high-top table has become the new focal point for the revamped hotel bar. The refresh of ONE's bar and lounge was completed by Audax, the Toronto design studio behind The Chase and Colette Grand Café, and features new custom furniture pieces and decor designed with luxurious jewel-toned fabrics, warm metal accents and matte glass diffused lighting. Audax also reprogrammed the layout of the lounge to create a series of intimate seating areas to accommodate ONE's regular patrons, hotel guests as well as larger groups. We approached the space planning with a focus on the sociability of the furniture arrangements," says Gianpiero Pugliese, Principal of Audax. "We wanted to create two distinct areas that felt like residential living rooms but with furniture pieces that were flexible in their uses in order to promote intimate conversation between groups of people, and to be comfortable for patrons sitting alone." Sofas and swivel chairs were designed using soft velvet fabrics in amber yellow, clay red, sapphire blue and emerald green. Modern coffee and end tables with antique-green stone motifs and sleek metal bases in black chrome and bronze offer guests the flexibility to work comfortably with their laptops during the day, or enjoy cocktails and fine dining in the evenings. Barrel-back chairs suspended in brass frames add unexpected curves to the arrangements. A custom designed laser-cut privacy screen in bronze, wall-mounted mirror photo frames and amber LED lighting strips behind the bar help highlight the existing features of the space. Opaque window coverings and cylindrical-shaped table and floor lamps that give off a soft diffused glow were selected to maintain a consistent mood from day to night. "Audax has created the new mood at ONE that will endure over the next 10 years. The lounges new chic and sophisticated style makes our guests feel at home," says Mark McEwan.