Marlon Blackwell Architects (MBA) is the designer behind the new 2,000 square foot fast casual ramen restaurant CO-OP, in the 8th Street Market. Located in a reimagined disused food processing plant, 8th Street Market is a community-focused food hub and part of the reinvention of downtown Bentonville, Ark., into a vibrant destination for locals and visitors. For CO-OP, Meryati Blackwell, Principal and Director of Interiors, and his team used simple and unrefined materials, such as concrete masonry units and plywood, which they assembled in an unexpected composition, creating a visually arresting interior.
Photo credit: Timothy Hursley
“The design began with listening to our client, Rob Apple, the former CEO of Ropeswing Hospitality Group. He wanted to advance the idea of an Ozark ramen house, by taking the idea of Japanese ramen comfort food and adding a local Arkansas twist; such as an addition of fried chicken to the ramen bowl. It was his vision that we brought to life; an atmosphere that is welcoming, never alienating, yet sophisticated and a reflection of our local culture,” explained Blackwell.
The view of the restaurant from the exterior storefront windows is filtered through a continuous length of steel beaded curtain, which reflects and softens the light and delays the full experience of the space until one enters. Embracing the Japanese notion of wabi-sabi, which celebrates the asymmetries and imperfections in natural and unrefined objects, MBA used construction quality plywood, a simple material which was elevated by employing careful joinery and edge detailing.
Photo credit: Timothy Hursley
A highlight in the space are the generously-spaced booths with full-height partitions rising between them, creating a feeling of being seated inside a cave, where diners are tucked away into a private space. Passing through this compressed articulated space, guests are released into a spacious communal seating area, spatially connected beneath a deeply coffered plywood ceiling. The recessed light fixtures allow for an interplay of light and shadow across the entire space. Surrounded by carefully laid concrete block walls, softened by a 12 ft tall living green wall, guests can watch the chefs at work in the open kitchen, creating refined versions of simple food, itself a celebration of the same spirit of wabi-sabi.
About Marlon Blackwell Architects
Since 1992, Marlon Blackwell Architects has designed award-winning, environmentally responsive projects for its clients. The firm believes that architecture can happen anywhere, at any scale, at any budget – for anyone – which results in challenging the conventions and models that often obscure other possibilities. As an agile, full service design firm, MBA advocates a participatory, collaborative design process between the client, contractors, and architect, where all voices are heard from conceptualization to the realization of each project. In every instance, the firm strives to express the richness of place and the ideals of its people and institutions. The office of Marlon Blackwell Architects received the 2016 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture. Blackwell is the recipient of the 2020 AIA Gold Medal and has just been named the 2020 SEC Professor of the Year.
