Planetarium-style ceiling arches over diners inside Copenhagen’s Alchemist restaurant

Ethereal floating jellyfish and the glowing northern lights are among the many scenes projected above diners on this high-end Copenhagen restaurant, which has been designed by Studio Duncalf.

Solely providing a 50-course tasting menu, Alchemist has been designed to “take diners on each a bodily and mental journey”.

The restaurant began life as a tiny 16-cover venue in central Copenhagen. However, when buyers supplied an opportunity for enlargement, head chef Rasmus Munk labored with Studio Duncalf to create an even bigger and extra eccentric area “that in any other case would have been dismissed by engineers and designers”.

“Within the earlier incarnation of Alchemist, just like the overwhelming majority of high-end eating places, the expertise was targeted virtually solely on the meals, a noble purpose in itself,” mentioned the studio’s founder, Mike Duncalf.

“For this model of the Alchemist, nonetheless, Rasmus was trying to improve the expertise by creating a rare bodily atmosphere which incorporates visible and audio stimulation,” Duncalf Dezeen.

Alchemist’s second iteration is situated on Copenhagen’s industrial Refshaleøen island, which is dotted with different stylish eateries and bars.

It takes over a constructing that after served as a ship workshop and later as a set design area for the Danish Nationwide Theatre. The cavernous inside has been remodeled to function a sequence of distinctive eating areas that Studio Duncalf felt suited the restaurant’s multi-course menu.

Diners enter the restaurant through a three-metre-high bronze door that is been carved to function a sprawl of gnarled tree boughs. They instantly step right into a gallery-style area, for which completely different artists can be invited to create immersive installations.

On the time of opening, the room was lined in vibrant graffiti-style illustrations by Japanese artist Girl Aiko, which depict New York road scenes.

A brief partition wall then slides as much as grant entry to a grandiose bar space the place cocktails and the preliminary, lighter meals programs can be served.

One aspect of the 14-metre-high room is dominated by a three-storey glass wine cellar that is stacked with 10,000 bottles.

4-metre-long brass pendant lamps dangle from the ceiling, illuminating informal seating areas under that are dressed with pink and navy velvet chairs.

BIG overhauls Copenhagen warehouse for Noma 2.zero restaurant

A kitchen runs alongside the rear of the room, fronted by panes of glass in order that diners can see the cooks at work.

Numerous uncommon components are saved inside clear jars in opposition to a backlit gridded shelf, very similar to how specimens are displayed in a science lab.

Diners stroll up a flight of stairs and throughout a glass-bottomed bridge right into a secondary eating room, which is topped by an enormous dome.

Measuring 18 metres in diameter, the dome may be projected with shifting photographs starting from an evening sky streaked with the northern lights to a swarm of jellyfish floating amongst plastic baggage – an try by Munk to lift consciousness of the world’s polluted oceans.

Diners under sit round concrete bench tables, turned in direction of the kitchen to keep-up the “visible expertise”. Uncommon dishes on supply embrace a cherry-glazed lamb’s mind and foie gras served inside a pretend human head.

A raise then takes diners as much as the third and closing eating area the place dessert is served. Accomplished in a a lot cosier fit-out, it has been completed with timber floorboards by Dinesen and plum-hued sofas.

This area additionally boasts a fireplace pit and a tea ceremony bar.

“We do not apply a selected preconceived home model onto any mission, our strategy tends to concentrate on the particular wants of the consumer, their prospects and the area obtainable and we took the identical strategy right here,” defined Duncalf.

“Engaged on such a spectacular scale inherently helps create a component of theatre. It could have been a mistake, nonetheless, to easily depend on the dimensions of the area to do the work so we needed to work onerous to create intrigue and atmosphere with out the ambiance merely dissipating within the void.”

Studio Duncalf has been established since 2016 and relies in south London.

Its Alchemist mission joins quite a lot of high-end eateries which can be already dotted throughout Copenhagen, a metropolis recognized for its wealthy culinary scene.

Final 12 months noticed Michelin-starred Noma arrange a brand new dwelling within the Danish capital. Set inside an ex-military warehouse, the restaurant has a sequence of open-plan eating areas dressed with heat oak furnishings.

Pictures is by Claes Bech Poulsen.