Billy Cotton leans into Brutalism at this new Manhattan bistro

If you ever doubted that glass-brick walls were making a comeback, this Neo-Brutalist restaurant in Manhattan should set you straight. Designed by the New York studio Billy Cotton, the Chinatown restaurant Bridges incorporates glass-brick walls and partitions to brighten and elevate the deep, narrow site.

Located in the Two Bridges neighbourhood, at the threshold of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, the French-Basque restaurant is a collaboration between the Michelin-gilded chef Sam Lawrence and his partner Nicolas Mouchel, who wanted to present a lived-in European look with contemporary New World references. They brought in Cotton to design his first-ever restaurant interior.

Cotton seized on the area’s art deco heritage by introducing cherrywood to the 214-square-metre space. The banquettes, bar, tables and trim are built from long, curved panels of the stuff, accented with black-leather cushions and white tablecloths. To complement the textured concrete walls and poured concrete floors, he sourced chrome light fixtures from locally based studio Blue Green Works and a few from vintage outlets.

Cotton’s design was inspired by Chatham Towers, a blocky, Brutalist apartment complex nearby built by Japanese-American architect George Shimamoto in the 1960s. The glass blocks echo the geometry of the building. And, counter-intuitively, they bring this new scheme up to date, providing a fresh and memorable motif.

www.bridges-nyc.com