Gaia

Gaia is a Greek restaurant in DIFC and one of the district's better-known rooms. A venue with that profile is looked at closely, so the finish level has to survive being photographed constantly as well as being used every night.

The programme ran to DIFC's access restrictions, with the millwork made in our own workshop and the interior and construction delivered together.

A well-known room carries an expectation before anyone sits down, and the fit-out has to meet it in a DIFC building whose services were designed for offices. Extraction, drainage and acoustic separation all have to be reconciled with the base build.

The extraction route and the acoustic separation were resolved against the base building before the dining room was set out, because in an office tower those two decide what the room can be.