Post & Beam

The Chef of Baldwin Hills

A new home for famed chef Govind Armstrong in Baldwin Hills takes its name very architecturally. Post & Beam framing, though an ancient method of building, was revived most ardently during the mid-twentieth century in order to provide the openness and transparency that largely defined Modern architecture. The method allowed architects to eliminate the need for thick supporting walls and to allow for greater space between structural systems.

Modern architects embraced simplicity and straightforwardness, with the consistent goal of incorporating natural light into each interior. The Modern space avoids superfluous ornamentation or period styling and focuses on intelligent use of materials.

Colorola believes that Post & Beam, as a concept, can provide an excellent metaphor for a modern culinary style that is based on a similar ethos of simplicity and an intelligent use of ingredients.
It is important to emphasize: simplicity does not mean plain. The elaborate structures and furnishings of Modern virtuosos like Le Corbusier or the Eames’, Saarinen or Bertoia, were ‘simple’ in their relationship to nature. Fervent attention to material and construction, to form and function: these are the tenets of Modernism.

Likewise, a Modern cuisine is in fact the sum of its parts. We propose a brand program for Post & Beam that is inspired and informed by the axioms of Modernism. By creating a comprehensive visual system that is both accessible and elegant, we can move beyond the mere pastiche of trendy mid-century revival, and create a functional yet sexy brand story that compliments and equally enlightened menu.