2013 BOY Winner: Bar/Lounge

Hayes and James Slade’s virgin voyage with Virgin Atlantic Airways was the Clubhouse first-class lounge at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. So a repeat collaboration with the airline’s in-house design team, this time at Newark Liberty International Airport, presented an opportunity to create a dialogue between the two. In contrast to J.F.K.’s “uptown” theme, funkier Newark riffs on downtown’s unique scale and texture. The other difference is size. At 5,000 square feet, Newark’s Clubhouse has half the space of J.F.K.’s but serves the same number of travelers. That meant apportioning the open plan into zones, delineated by ramps and low partitions as well as colors and materials. Note the central bar’s surfacing, which segues from oak veneer to gray-stained solid oak and stainless steel to correspond to surrounding areas. 

One sitting area is dubbed the Passion Pit in reference to its dim light and fuchsia-lined recessed booths. “For making out,” James Slade quips. “Or napping.” 

Project team:
Tian Gao; Kristina Kesler; Magda Stoenescu; David Iseri; Rasmus Kristensen; Ana Lopis; Alessandro Perinelli; Garrett Pruter.