Acqua Restaurant at BWI Hilton
Baltimore, Maryland
Construction Cost: undisclosed
Completion Date: 2006
With a menu that boasts contemporary interpretations of classic Chesapeake Bay classics, the design of this signature restaurant and bar creates a novel and lively thematic atmosphere. Deviating from a literal reflection of the restaurant's name, the decor shows a variation on the colors of water. With ceiling coffers containing undulating serpentine waves, the diner feels submersed in an animated underwater seascape.
With nearly 7,500 square feet of floor area, the bar and lounge seat 80 customers while the restaurant accommodates 140. Raised platforms in the restaurant are bordered on 2 sides by high back booth seating and shimmering draperies along the perimeter which can be drawn closed to create a separate, more intimate, dining area for a private party.
The goal to create a unique destination dining experience defines and distinguishes the bar and restaurant's design from the adjacent hotel facility. Enticing hotel guests and local patrons, a local artist created the restaurant's dynamic and colorful pieces of glass art. These dichroic glass installations mimic the undulating ceiling in the restaurant and lend a shimmering metallic glow in the lounge.
Variations in fabric colors and textures glow underneath various blue cold cathode light coves. A cable system of multi colored translucent resin panels atop high back banquette seating serves as a screened divider between the restaurant and lounge as well as bar and the hotel reception area. All materials and finishes gently glisten creating a captivating background for a distinctive dining event.