This project was executed by Caroline Nassif while she was a Project Architect at Lundberg Design. As Project Architect, Caroline spearheaded the design, documentation, materials selection, and construction administration for the project.

(SAN FRANCISCO | 2022)

Uccello Lounge is an innovative meeting point for musical and culinary innovation. The combined restaurant, bar, and performance space sits at the base of the new Bowes Center “vertical campus” for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and offers a nightly venue for emerging and established musicians to perform. Chef Loretta Keller, a preeminent San Francisco chef, continues her legacy of forward-thinking food service through a high-quality, seasonally appropriate menu for the dynamic space.

Acoustical precision was at the forefront of our design. The ceiling is not only a sculptural play on sound, but also carries the bulk of acoustical infrastructure. The undulating blue felt baffles hide a network of speakers and absorb noise from the kitchen and bar. The design challenge was to carefully tune the space while creating an atmosphere that supports the program: a place to comfortably listen, dine, and engage with the emerging arts in San Francisco.

The design also serves to selectively direct attention, which is critical as one sits among the music and motion of the performers, the city traffic beyond the glass walls, lights twinkling from Davies Symphony Hall across the street, and the bustling kitchen on display through an oversized pass-through window. Through strategic material qualities and lighting, the space can be tuned, pulling pieces into or out of focus. When cast with light, the sculptural Stan Bitters Tile by Heath Ceramics becomes a dynamic surface of shadows framing the kitchen activity beyond. Small light globes, dropping through the blue waves of the ceiling, playfully call your eye across the room, toward the stage, or hovering at the cluster of fully recycled hand-pleated felt acoustic lighting pendants over the bar. Acid-etched and brushed zinc tabletops reflect light across their rich textured surfaces, bringing a tactility and depth that appeals to both the eye and the hand. The u-shaped central bar is clad in smooth zinc panels, intended to be scratched and patinaed over time. This is topped with a bull-nosed honed Virginia Mist granite countertop that feels smooth to the touch and emits a satisfying echo as glasses clink on its surface.

At the corner of two busy streets, in the center of the Performing Arts District, Uccello Lounge calls passersby into the emergent, playful nexus of activity within.