A Feast for the Eyes
...Other restaurants have used the European theme, but toned down the Old World melodrama with a contemporary nod to modernist influences. Ecco Il Pane, a food business that started out as a wholesale bakery of Italian country breads, went this route when it opened a new retail outlet on West Broadway in Vancouver. "We started with this theme of a Tuscan garden, but the leased space didn't lend itself to such a wide open concept," says project architect Keith Jakobsen of the $500,000 project.

Jakobsen describes his work as modern with a sense of tradition. (He also recently won the Interior Designer Association's Gold and Best of Show Awards in the Hospitality category for his design of Don't Show the Elephant Cafe in Yaletown.) "In our age, we take the best of the old with the best of the new. Modernism on its own was always criticized for being too cold and impersonal".

Jakobsen accomplished these goals at Ecco Il Pane by doing away with elaborate elements such as heavy draperies, making liberal use of floor-

to-ceiling sliding glass doors at the front, which open out to the sidewalk; and working with local craftsmen on Italian-inspired detailing.

For example, the main wall has large plaster relief panels of Italian Renaissance scenes. "These plaster relief panels were done by a local artisan based on some etchings I found in a book," Jakobsen says.

The ceiling lights were made from Italian-style lamp fixtures with special glass panels for authenticity's sake. "I hired another artist to make the glass with air bubbles visible to get that vintage look," adds Jakobsen. "Good design is partly all about getting artisans involved. You don't want to be picking standard items out of a catalogue."

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For Keith Jakobsen, the architect for Ecco Il Pane's outlet on West Broadway in Vancouver, planning the flow of people movement was one of the most rigorous aspects to work out. "The business intended to cater to a number of different customers: those who just wanted to dash in and buy bread, people who wanted to buy take-out food, and others who wanted a sit-down meal. It took a lot of figuring to make sure that all these different customers didn't disrupt each other." He accomplished this by situating a counter at the front of the house that was set at an angle that channeled customers to the seating.
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