Half Shell Raw Bar
Key West, Florida
1989
The site for this project was the old navy pier in Key West, Florida. It was also known as Sunset Pier, a favorite place to watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. The pier was kind of an open "L" shape and was said to be capable of carrying the weight of a building.
The restaurant was two stories with a kitchen and raw bar on each level. It all could be completely open to the outside. Spanning the pier on the second level was a separate Lounge, under which one had to walk to get out to the pier and to the restaurant.
The look of the building was somewhat of an abstracted Key West/Victorian and was made out of wood, ceramic tile, shingles, silver metal roofs and wood frame, top hinged windows operated by rope and pulley.
Somehow the clients just never seemed to be able to sell this idea to the owner of the pier.