Vardo Café Restaurant Londen

Architect: Nex Architecture

Wood type: American Ash
Dimensions: Grill ExclusiveLine 4-variabel-20-80
Finish of the wood: Transparant

An iconic restaurant which defines the Duke of York Square. That was the goal of the design contest of the Duke of York square in London. The contest was won by Nex Architects, because of their special and unique design. This has certainly been realised in the shape of this restaurant, called Vardo Restaurant. With its green roof top terrace, this restaurant forms a true ‘piece the resistance’ in Chelsea. Not only does this design balance nicely between the prestigious and green environment, it also creates a unique experience. A focal point in its environment.

The visually attractive outer shape continues on the inside. The spiral shaped building, accentuated with its solid light grey concrete walls, is enhanced by the fan-shaped solid wooden Derako ceiling. This fully made-to-measure ceiling does not only create a certain dynamic. It also creates a complementing and natural appeal, enhancing the green environment.

The 238m₂ of solid wooden Grill ExclusiveLine ceiling is quite complex in its execution. The wooden parts are FSC certified American Ash wood, dimensions of the wooden slats being 20 mm in thickness and 80 mm in height. The spacing between the wooden slats vary. Next to the extraordinary spiral shape, there is another accent which makes this ceiling special, the unique notches which are visible in the wooden slats. These were especially designed to make an intriguing visual effect to enhance the whirling character of this building. Some people makes it think of a giant snail’s shell.

The grill ceiling is applied where the outer facade and inner walls are connected as three eccentric circles placed relative to each other. In order to make a custom made solution, Derako has drawn out and produced several different fan-shaped panels.
The transition of the inner radius towards the outer radius required a lot of engineering, because of the impure circular shapes. The connections between the straight ceiling and the circular shaped exterior required special attention during engineering. The notches in the wood have been made to measure in our own production environment. The installation of the ceiling required a lot of different Derako suspension systems. These straight profiles are provided with notches at a pre-calculated position, which were then bend to the right shape at the building location. 

This ceiling was developed and engineered in a specially designed lay-out plan in close collaboration with our UK sales partner and the architect. This made the execution and montage run smoothly resulting in this magnificent Grill ExclusiveLine solid wooden ceiling.