Spotted by Normann Copenhagen

Yesterday, we went to the opening of the NOMA Lab. The press and friends of the NOMA house were invited to experience the new innovative and creative place where worldclass food is created by the chefs of NOMA. We were there as we, together with GXN, have developed the STAR lamp which are now giving light to the room. STAR lamp is exclusively made for NOMA.

Nordic, Raw and Playful
The NOMA Lab is connected to NOMA situated in a former warehouse on the national registry of protected buildings.  The tight restrictions meant that GXN was required to design the interior without using so much as one single nail in the walls or flooring.  The approach was to design four central multi-functional storage units; each composed from over five hundred uniquely formed wooden cubes. Curving playfully throughout the space, these units divide the 200M2 room into smaller areas accommodating the Food Lab, the herb garden, staff areas and office.  Raw and simple, through colours and forms, it captures a unique Nordic aesthetic.  True to the restaurant’s philosophy, the NOMA Lab is developed exclusively using Nordic materials.

The organic forms of the furniture pieces stand out through use of integrated light features, which also give the interior a lighter feel.  The additional lighting is provided by Normann Copenhagen and GXN’s specially developed STAR lamp, developed for NOMA whose reflective light casts dramatic geometric shadows into the surroundings.

As the number one ranked restaurant for two years in a row, the expectations for creative innovation at NOMA are higher than ever before. Therein lay the need for an inspiring ‘experimentarium’ where chefs could continue to take their skills further in the evolution and development of Nordic cuisine.  This commission was given to 3XN’s Innovation Unit, GXN, whose experimental design was an excellent match for NOMA’s innovative gastronomy.

Head of GXN, Kasper Guldager Jørgensen refers to the project as an Architectural Cookbook and says of the collaboration, ‘We move in parallel worlds.  NOMA’s dedicated and creative engagement in gastronomy is similar in many ways to GXN’s experimental take on new materials and ingredients in the architectural world.’