For The Tin Building by Jean-Georges–one of Roman and Williams’ largest projects to-date–the firm reinvented the historic Fulton Fish Market into a 53,000-square foot culinary complex featuring six full-service restaurants, six fast casual outlets, three bars, and private dining. Serving a range of international cuisines, the Tin Building takes inspiration from the world’s greatest food halls and markets, and the team spent years traveling and researching cuisine and design at international markets in order to make the Tin Building a global market for the ages.
Roman and Williams masterminded every aspect of the interior, from layout and circulation to materials, furnishings, lighting, and signage. For starters, they anchored the space with a central hub around which two floors of experiences are accessed by the coret’s escalators. To tie the space together, they created a fundamental architectural language of elements and materials to create a connective tissue that ties all of the individual spaces together. Using their bestselling Oscar light, which features an industrial metal canopy, and Globe light, a fixture that was traditionally used in spaces of commerce, they established a circulation route and environment that nods to the era of the Tin Building’s 1920’s to 40’s heyday. Radius-corner archways—most clad in verdigris tile— act as portals to the various restaurants, which are treated as unique interventions.
Each restaurant–with its own design identity and own atmosphere–punctuates the space to create a journey of discovery while remaining of a piece with the overall market. On the ground floor, T. Brasserie riffs on classic French brasserie decor with antique mirrors, Art Nouveau–style tilework, and marble tabletops and counters. In the building’s opposite corner, the team opted for a dark, sexy palette in the sushi bar, Shikku, with black concrete floors, charred shou sugi ban millwork, and dusky marble counters. Across the way, the Spoiled Parrot candy shop offers an over-the-top fantasy with exuberant pinks, rose mirrored ceiling and walls, and a swirl of globe lights. Tucked away, speakeasy style, House of the Red Pearl features luxurious velvet-upholstered banquettes and horseshoe-style armchairs, gold-on-red Chinoiserie wallpaper, and glowing lanterns.