Outdoor Dining Spaces
The winters can be pretty brutal in Cleveland, so when the weather is good we like to take advantage of it! Outdoor dining is a great way to enjoy the summer and is becoming a critical way for people to dine-out and restaurants to remain open during the current health crisis.
Flight Wine Bar, Aerial View
We’ve worked on patios for many of our restaurant projects over the years. Typically once the business is up and running the owners want to expand to provide outdoor accommodations. An example we’ll explore further is the patio for Flight Wine Bar in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway.
Available areas to locate a patio are often limited by the placement of buildings, roads, sidewalks, etc so there’s not always much of a choice. However, different locations can provide different qualities to the patio environment. Patios on or along the sidewalk can feed off of the energy of pedestrian activity, making for a livelier atmosphere. Patios in narrower spaces between two buildings can make for a more intimate experience that feels like an outdoor room.
Flight Wine Bar, Site Plan
At Flight, we were able to design a fairly large patio along the sidewalk on Detroit Ave. Planting beds, landscape, and fencing were worked into the design to comply with various regulations and in turn help shield the pedestrian zone from the parking area beyond.
Outdoor spaces are an extension of the dining experience and therefore, the details are opportunities to stitch together the design of the interior and exterior. At Flight we did this with a bold graphic strategy by painting a black and white geometric pattern on the concrete floor. A similar pattern is used on the sign and inside as a mural behind the bar.
Outdoor lighting is another opportunity for design in patio spaces. Overhead string lights are very popular and add ambiance and a sense of a “ceiling” which can help the space feel more intimate. At Flight we included glowing spheres around the edges within the planting beds which can provide interest during any season.
Flight Wine Bar