The Terrace Restaurant

SHH Architects have transformed ZSL London Zoo’s main restaurant (The Terrace Restaurant), by remodelling and extending the 1920s building.

The project began by assessing the original building, made up of ground, mezzanine and first floor spaces. The 1,196 sqm ground floor offered assisted restaurant service for visitors and a staff canteen area.

The 445 sqm mezzanine floor was comprised of a staff changing area; offices and support space, along with public toilets for the first floor hospitality – private hire space, the Prince Albert Suite (the interior of which was to remain outside of the brief for the new building). Whilst a 1960s, single storey, timber frame extension at the front (extending just beyond the wings of the original red-brick building) had allowed for increased visitor numbers, it was no longer adequate to cope with the current levels of demand.

SHH-Terrace-Restaurant_02 — SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. On the left: front elevation. On the right: kiosk at main entrance

The architects demolished the 1960s extension back to its foundations and created a brand new tiered extension to the front of the building, increasing the ground floor area with a new 6meters-high, double-height space at the front, new stairs up to an expanded mezzanine level, a well as a generous new mezzanine terrace deck and a smaller first floor terrace directly above. They also built a small extension to the rear of the building to create new storage space for food. After ripping out a series of suspended ceilings on the ground floor, the building was took back to its original structure, revealing three of the original five arched windows, which now link the new extension to the original ground floor space as a dynamic connecting feature, visible from the building’s exterior.

HHH-Terrace-Restaurant_03 — SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. Terrace at mezzanine level

The overall feel of the newly-remodelled building is clean, raw and urban in glass, timber, exposed brick and steelwork columns, with a striking ribbed deck ceiling in the double-height extension. The huge amount of Mechanical & Electrical required for the building for air handling, cooling and heating is mainly located in the building’s rear service yard, with a further two air-handling units set within two long, thin plant rooms alongside the building’s wings at mezzanine and first floor levels, clad in Parklex with hidden flush doors. Visually, the plant rooms seem to puncture the floor (although structurally they do not), but they extend a clear visual line up through the two levels.

SHH-Terrace-Restaurant_04 — SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. Rear view of original arches

Externally, soldier course block paving announces the new building and separates it off from the herringbone paving of the external square. Outside seating and tables are part- canopied by the building’s overhang for maximum solar shading. South- facing, full-height curtain wall glazing to the front of the extension is punctured by six 2,5 meters-tall doors. At the centre of the glass front to the extension sits a double-sided and folds upwards on opening to create a canopy. When closed, it looks to disappear into the building. Steel-framed, cantilevered stairs with glass balustrades for an open feel lead up from both sides of the ground floor to the extensive mezzanine seating area and the terrace beyond, but barely impinge on the stunning, spacious and transparent feel of the building’s interior.

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SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. Front elevation

SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. View down from first floor terrace

SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. On the left: external paved area. On the right: first floor terrace with skylight view into interior

SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. On the left: view into main space from mezzanine level. On the right: new structure meets original brick arches

SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. Staircase down from mezzanine level

SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. View towards entrance from one of the two access ramps

SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. View from corner of ground floor extension

SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. On the left: view from rear food servery area. On the right: stair into mezzanine

SHH, The Terrace Restaurant, London, 2013. Seating area at rear of mezzanine

The Terrace Restaurant, London
Programme: restaurant
Area: 1000 sqm
Architects: SHH Architects
Client: ZSL (Zoological Society London)
Cost Consultant: WT Partnership
Mechanical & Electrical: ME7
Structural Engineers: HRW
Main Contractor: Buxtons
Kitchen Layout, Counters, Signage: Design Front
Landscaping: James Aldridge Design
Completion: september 2013

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The Terrace Restaurant

SHH Architects have transformed ZSL London Zoo’s main restaurant (The Terrace Restaurant), by remodelling and extending the 1920s building.

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Innovation and sustainability in building materials

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