1864, Wine Bar & Restaurant

We were commissioned to design a fine dining restaurant, a Wine Bar and cellar for the iconic Galle Face Hotel which was established in “1864”. We chose to respond to the historical context of the hotel while infusing a contemporary language within the old shell of the building.

The space was divided into three areas- a lounge bar on entry, the fine dine restaurant and a basement wine cellar. The entire length of this space flanked by a colonnade of lofty arches was used to create intimate low seating alcoves with views of the Ocean.

We Stripped layers of plaster to revealed the original building materials and further highlight them. Thus the original brick wall colonnade and a timber-slatted scaffolding used for lathe and plasters were generously exposed.

In the fine dine restaurant a large contemporary collage of floriated woodcarvings inspired from ancient Sinhalese temples was designed by us and then commissioned to local Sri Lankan craftsmen.

The timber floors and ceilings were offset with contemporary seating in colours of wine red and olive green.

The rustic charm of the wine cellar with old brick walls and timber floors are surrounded by sleek racks of temperature-controlled wines. This area steps out into the Galle face greens , a kilometre long stretch of garden with stunning views of the Indian Ocean.