Architecture: The Varna Restaurant, 1971
Psychedelic patterns and colors adorned every face of the Varna Restaurant, an eatery set within a palatial Danish hall built in 1909; the design, however, was clearly much more contemporaneous. Architect Verner Panton was responsible for the purple-drenched décor, offset by a central Red Hall clad in sharp, contrasting crimson. Panton was a well-known Danish design primarily known for his modern work with interiors and furniture. Unfortunately, Varna Palace's restaurant no longer looks as it did when Panton completed the project, victim of a 1971 rennovation as well as another more recent re-do.
Nonetheless, Panton's work is a drastic, arguably dated creation of a all-encompassing experience that combines sensory stimulation, a mood-crafting palette and the kind of modernity typically reserved for the lairs of 007's arch-nemeses. Obviously, then, you can see the appeal.
