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Innovation

NOMA Lab: Locally sourced food, locally sourced design

Innovation and good design come together in the name of good food.
Written by Beth Carter, Contributing Editor

NOMA, known for being voted the world's best restaurant in 2010 and 2011 by Restaurant Magazine, is a Danish restaurant focused on making dishes from seasonal and local food.

Danish architecture firm 3XN helped them build on their theme by designing the interior of the NOMA food Lab, where "chefs could continue to take their skills further in the evolution and development of Nordic cuisine.”

In 2007 3XN launched a their innovation unit (called GXN) to develop a building culture that affects the world positively both architecturally and environmentally. The NOMA Lab fits right into this.

The space is in an old warehouse that is on the national registry of protected historic buildings meaning that it had to be built with no glue or nails. The designers had to actually work around the existing space.

The specialized storage unites divide up the area "Curving playfully throughout the space, these units divide the 200M2 room into smaller areas accommodating the Food Lab, the herb garden, staff areas and office. Raw and simple, through colors and forms, it captures a unique Nordic aesthetic."

In another way of sticking to the restaurant's mantra, the design team used only Nordic materials, though there was also a high-tech aspect to construction:

"'For the project, we developed a ‘living software’ which made it possible to send drawings direct to fabrication from the computer. It’s kind of similar to printing a text one has just typed – but instead we are printing furniture pieces,’ explains Kasper Guldager Jørgensen on the design method."

This#D  interior puzzle piece of over 5000 pieces was put together with no carpenters, proving that good food isn't only capable of people together, it can also bring about innovative design.

[Core 77]
Images: NOMA lab

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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