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Noche

New York restaurant evokes the glamour of Latin nightclubs

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Outside, you're in Times Square. Inside, you're in a Latin American nightclub – or at least a New York version of one.

It's a club that's also a restaurant and café, called Noche. And the design intent is to convey all of the feelings and rhythms of that Spanish word for “night” – electrifying, colorful, mysterious, romantic.

“Broadway and 49th Street was part of the old Latin Quarter in New York,” notes David Mexico, principal designer with Rockwell Group (New York), “and the restaurant is intended to revive the feeling of the bars, restaurants and clubs that thrived there in the 1940s.”

The Latin feel was provided by lights, color, texture and architectural details that promote open, comfortable dining at lunch and the intimacy and lurking excitement of a club at night.

The bar area is pulsating and vibrant, shimmering with flickering votive candles set behind cut-glass Mexican juice jugs. Then, what Mexico calls a “voyeuristic stairway” provides the transition from the café-like front to the club-like back of the space.

“It winds around a glass elevator shaft, glowing like a setting sun and a moonlit night,” according to Mexico. “The stairs are positioned so that you feel you're sneaking into a small, private club. But the space suddenly opens up to reveal flying balconies, high ceilings and colors inspired by Carnival [Rio de Janeiro's annual feast that ushers in Lent].”

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A soaring dining room reaches three stories high, with several levels of seating and a balcony looking over the main dining room.

But the highlight of the space is a large revolving stage in the main dining room that appears only during late-night musical performances. An architectural layering of sheer and opaque drapery slides, lifts and pulls to reveal the stage, which has turned 180 degrees to announce itself. (When it's not in use, it slides back into the wall to create room for additional restaurant seating.)

The 40-foot-high walls are covered with cerused oak slats hung like Venetian blinds. The lighting system (from Focus Lighting, New York) washes the walls in deep amber from hidden light strips with 800 lamps (which are also front-lit from above with a blue dappled light effect). Lighting also bathes the bar with deep orange and red from ceiling coves and custom pendants. Gobo lights throw texture onto the slatted walls.

The centerpiece of the space is a translucent skylight, 30 feet in diameter, supported by five massive curving columns. The backlit occulus is programmed to shift through a spectrum of colors in 15-minute cycles.

Details throughout the space fuse contemporary, authentic and whimsical culture. Mother-of-pearl and blue and green frosted glass is reflected off an aged mirror over the mahogany-stained bar. Banquettes are white leather and chairs are warm amber wood. The walls are also amber-toned with a plaster finish.

Warm colors (like mango, guava and passion fruit) play off the cool glass and tile surfaces like a tropical salad. But it's the bright yellows, reds and blues that call to mind Xavier Cugat's band and the hot capitals of Havana, Rio and Mexico City.

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Eric Laignel, Rockwell Group, New YorkNoche soars to new heights in New York with the festive colors and pulsating rhythms of a Latin café, restaurant and nightclub. Its backroom of 40-foot ceilings and flying balconies features colors inspired by Rio's Carnival.

Client: Noche, New York – David Emil, Bill Underhill, Mark Advent, owners

Design: Rockwell Group, New York – David Rockwell, president; David Mexico, principal; Jorge Castillo, project manager; Patricia Barbis, Gonzalo Bustamante, Sara Duffy, Josh Held, Gregory Stanford, Julie Yurasek, staff

Lighting Design: Focus Lighting, New York – Paul Gregory, principal; Jeff Nathan, senior designer; Brett Anderson, designer; Gwen Grossman, Jaie Bosse, assistant designers

Outside Design Consultant: Ambrosini DePinto & Schmieder, New York (mechanical, electrical and plumbing)

Architect: RG Architects, New York

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Suppliers: ModeWorks, New York (wall finishes); PCI Millwork, Toronto (millwork); Capital, New York (exterior signage); Chairmasters, Bronx, N.Y., JC Furniture, Yonkers, N.Y., Pam Chavez Associates/ISA Intl., New York (furniture); Casablanca Fan Co., New York (ceiling fans); Durkan, Atlanta, Bloomsburg, New York (carpets); Shelby Williams, New York (bar stools); Durite, Great Neck, N.Y. (terrazzo); Show Motion, Norwalk, Conn. (occulus); Clare Brothers, Lititz, Pa. (audio/visual); Majilite, Crezana, New York, Moore & Giles, Forest, Va., Jim Belmont, Hewlett, N.Y., Covington, New York, Valley Forge, Pompano Beach, Fla. (fabrics); House of Bamboo, Thornhill, Ont., Savoy Studios, Portland, Ore. (custom light fixtures); Michael Palladino, New York, Jerard Studio, Brooklyn, N.Y., Mixed Up Mosaics, New York (artwork); Crossville, Crossville, Tenn. (flooring); ETC Unison, Middleton, Wis., Lutron Electronics Co., Coopersburg, Pa. (dimming controls); Hera Lighting LP, Atlanta (mini fluorescents); Times Square Lighting, New York (track and adjustable accent lighting); Altman Lighting, Yonkers, N.Y. (ellipsoidals and washlights); Lumiere/ Cooper Lighting, Houston (low-voltage and surface accent lights); Legion Lighting, Brooklyn, N.Y. (recessed fluorescents and striplights); Edison Price, Long Island City, N.Y. (recessed downlighting); CSL Lighting Systems, Denver, Halo/Cooper Lighting, Houston (recessed adjustable low-voltage lighting); Tech Lighting LLC, Skokie, Ill. (decorative low-voltage accents and color filters); Tokistar Lighting, Anaheim, Calif. (low-voltage striplighting)

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