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Tamarindo

Location
San Clemente, CA
Architect

Background

Husband and wife team Pedro and Sarah Resendiz did it all when it came to creating their business, a food truck so beloved that it was featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. So when it came time to make the leap to a brick and mortar space, it’s no surprise they chose someone else who could do it all — Stayner Architects. Functioning as not only the architect but general contractor, lighting designer and custom integrator/fabricator as well, firm principal Christian Stayner led a team committed to creating a space as appetizing as the food being served.

Design Goals

  1. Honor the restaurant’s food-truck roots by having the life of the street continue into the life of the restaurant
  2. Blend elements from the two owners’ hometowns of Coalalco, Mexico and Orange County, California
  3. Reflect the area’s beach culture and naturally sunny glow without being literally “beachy”
  4. Create a space full of bold, saturated color to stand out from the surrounding area’s neutral palette and create a festive mood
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Challenges

Tamarindo’s home is a 1940s Moderne building in downtown San Clemente, which is known as “the Spanish town by the sea”. Since the town’s identity is greatly defined by its Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, San Clemente is very protective of its landmarks and requires other buildings to be compatible with any historic structures that they abound. In addition to working within exterior design restrictions, Stayner’s team also faced a big challenge on the interior side of the project. Quality lighting is critical in a hospitality context, but it was proving difficult to find a system that produced sophisticated results — yet was easy to control and accommodated post-construction evolution.

Christian-Stayner-Headshot

“So much of a restaurant’s success has to do with lighting . . . it was really important that the lighting made people feel welcome and flattered, and the food appealing and precious.”

-Christian Stayner, Principal, Stayner Architects

The Solution

Due to regulations, most of the exteriors in San Clemente are oriented towards browns and grays. The Stayner team, however, found a clever way to push the envelope — without breaking any rules. The entire front of the building is glazed and opens right out into the street. With no barrier between the sidewalk and interior, Tamarindo is visually very different than the rest of the nearby buildings. The interior’s super-saturated color flows from the space and spills out into the street, beckoning passersby.

That interior vibrancy is the culmination of several design elements. A series of skylights throughout the space bring light in from three different facades, so the sun’s full progression is experienced inside. Creative cues and material palettes that aligned with San Clemente’s salty air were influenced by the work of Mexico City architect/muralist Juan O’Gorman, while the warm yellow ceiling was inspired by the studio of architect Luis Barragan, also from Mexico City. Other colorful touches included an expansive, hand-painted mural on one of the space’s few masonry walls. Ketra lighting was used to enrich each of these visual experiences, helping accurately reflect and intensify colors with precisely controlled saturation and vibrancy. Ketra’s lighting also helped enhance the ambient natural light by mimicking the daylight coming through the skylights during the day, then dropping to a warm, amber glow that rivals candlelight. A design bonus was the lighting system’s wireless connectivity, which allowed the Stayner team to evolve Tamarindo’s space — down to easily moving individual lights — even after the restaurant opened.

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Project photography by Liz Kuball.

Results

By keeping the work all in house, Stayner was able to execute a unified concept that plays out in scale and across engagements throughout the project. In Tamarindo, the Stayner team has served up success with a comprehensive dining experience that starts on the street. Not quite the U.S., but not quite Mexico, either, the restaurant’s uniquely crafted space encourages people to open up to new concepts in food and drink— while delivering style that’s a feast for the eyes as well.

Products Used

D3 Downlight
G2 Linear
N3 Satellite
N4 Hub
S30 Lamp
A20 Lamp

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