Description:

Nestled under the InterContinental Hotel on Quay Street’s doorstep and connected to Commercial Bay, Advieh Bar and Restaurant is the exceptional new dining destination for Auckland’s revitalised downtown district.

InterContinental required a premium restaurant and bar on L1 to serve to guests and attract local guests in the CBD. We partnered with renowned Melbourne hospitality studio Techne to bring the restaurant to life. Collaboratively, we developed five design pillars, that were endorsed by our client and underpinned the project:

• Hero the product - a focus on local New Zealand food and wine
• Understanding the guest - the design and offering needed to appeal to international visitors and local patrons
• Ethical selections - natural materials sourced locally
• Day to night - a seamless transition and a design that feels comfortable from breakfast through to dinner
• Location specific - responding to the site and the existing building

The resulting design is highly sculptural; layered; organic; textural; and reflective. Advieh, pronounced (/æd-v/) loosely translating from Farsi to “spice mixture”, offers locally sourced cuisine infused with smoke and Persian flavours, intricately created by renowned chef, Gareth Stewart.

Advieh is inspired by a narrative drawn from the unique characteristics of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, and surrounding regions in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Natural phenomena and its elemental forces inspire and underpin its design language. Local basalt, cathedral glazing and smoked timbers, blackened steel and ombre brass are used throughout, all of which appear to have been forged or manipulated by heat. The colours which fade in tones of reds and oranges, to acidic greens and blues, are an ode to the volcanic sulphur pools and surrounding context of Mount Tongariro.

The glazing, a key feature of the space, wraps over the kitchen and to the shopfront where guests can watch the chef’s preparing bakery on their arrival. Dining chairs are designed and manufactured by local designer Nathan Goldsworthy, some upholstered in local sheepskin fleece. We collaborated with Christchurch-based designers Treeology to create bespoke furniture and joinery items from native swamp Kauri and river Totara trees.