|
The Garden Parterre at Versailles was a fascinating blend of superficial etiquette and covert
rendezvous. These outdoor areas performed an important social function at the court - although strict
protocols still governed interactions in the carefully manicured spaces - they were hotbeds for
encounters by design or chance and also a necessary and welcome respite from the intense scrutiny of
court life. In this way, Café Vue at Melbourne Airport provides a secret garden escape from the
exhausting banality of air travel, but the structure and rules inform the way the space works.
Passengers are transported from the ubiquity of the airport waiting-lounge to a vivid, contemporary
interpretation of life in the Garden Parterre.
The latest outpost of the Café Vue brand, the Melbourne airport restaurant is the next chapter of the
story started at 401 St Kilda Road, which explores a day in the life of Marie Antoinette, building off the
original concept of 'the art of living', inspired by the opulence of Versailles court life. Café Vue
Melbourne Airport expands on the interactions found in the Garden Parterre, represented by Emily Floyd's babushka-shaped topiary installations, which, like the Parterre, form a visual perimeter at the
edge of the café, extending out into the lounge – a decision that is both aesthetic and functional, also
demarcating the popular take-away coffee queue.
The ballooning, skirted forms of the metal installations are the voluminous dresses of Marie Antoinette
and her contemporaries, and as time passes they will be filled with the topiary plants that inhabit them.
|
|
Raise your eyes skyward and you'll see the installations are also used as light fillings, a cheeky twist
enabling customers to virtually look up their skirts!
Walking through Café Vue is the journey through the dining areas of Versailles. The formal area of the
café has the parquetry of the Salon de Noble, folded up to cover joinery units – customers are actually
sitting into the floor. This area also contains the Grand Couvert - a large, high glass table – the King
and Queen's private dining area at the palace. The more casual dining areas recall the vibrancy and
colour of the Salle de Bal. The smaller, lower settings are topped with timber and leather inlay evoking
turned-up corners of linen tablecloths.
Guests are offered glimpses into court life through other design features: the black and white tiled
corridors of Versailles become the triangular tile pattern for food retailing areas, and the corridor
alcoves that traditionally exhibited busts and sculptures of royal personages have been translated to
glass prism boxes for displaying Café Vue's cakes, chocolates and sandwiches. The pink glow that
pervades throughout the restaurant is the blush of painted rouge found on the cheeks of the ladies of
the court.
The design is not only aesthetic but provides clear direction and circulation for take-away or dine-in
customers. An airport oasis, Café Vue acknowledges the ongoing fascination with air travel,
maximising the views with floor to ceiling windows, allowing customers to retain a connection to their
journey and relax in sumptuous surrounds. Taking a trip to Versailles without even leaving the airport is
guaranteed to imbue even the most world-weary traveller with joie de vivre.
|
|