-By Katie Weeks, Photography by Ben Anders

While most travelers wake up on the day of a flight hoping for sunny forecast, you can't blame Stuart Gillies for occasionally waking up with a smile at the sight of a few clouds. It may be an air traveler's nightmare, but for Gillies, chef patron of Plane Food, the new Gordon Ramsay restaurant at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, fog means business. In fact, it was a foggy day when the restaurant, which opened in March 2008, set a service record of 1,100 covers in one day. Not that business is suffering on sunny days either, thanks to the combination of a sophisticated design from Locust Valley, N.Y.-based Bentel & Bentel Architects and the renowned, high-quality cuisine on which Ramsay has built his reputation.

Plane Food is the first airport-based offering for both Ramsay's company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH), and Bentel & Bentel, and designing for such a high-traffic space—Terminal 5 is expected to serve up to 30 million people a year—where time is of the essence provided an interesting challenge for all. From GRH's perspective, the goal was efficient service without sacrificing quality. "Gordon's name on a restaurant is a stamp of quality, and we're committed to producing the finest ingredients cooked freshly, which was actually something quite new for an airport," Gillies says. "There were two clear targets. First, we had to produce an amazing product. Second, we had to have speed of delivery. From the moment a customer hits the reception desk, we wanted to be able to have a starter in front of them within five minutes." He adds that the 180-seat venue can fill up within 10 minutes with an influx of patrons, all of whom may have anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours. "In the West End [of London where Ramsay has several restaurants], it's about taking the time to relax and read the menu. At the airport, it's all about speed."

Therefore, Bentel & Bentel was tasked with crafting an organizational scheme that would allow for efficient service without making patrons feel rushed. Spatially, the restaurant is divided into six discrete areas that are physically distinct but visually connected, and service stations and access ways are positioned to provide direct entry to the kitchen. A take-away retail area allows for grab-and-go service, while progressing down the entryway of the flag-shaped space allows for some visual drama upon entering the main dining area. Concentrating on this progression, the designers were careful to position seating arrangements so that arriving patrons would see the faces of other diners, not their backs. "We wanted to make it intimate and have the traveler interact with the other travelers without necessarily having to speak to them," says Susan Nagle, ASID, partner at Bentel & Bentel.

With an eye on efficiency, the majority of the tables are deuces or two-tops, which can be combined for bigger parties or kept separate for duos or solo fliers, reducing the amount of typical lost seating when a single traveler is seated at a four-person table. The bar also is crafted to accommodate single travelers. "It was very important to construct the table arrangement to allow maximum flexibility in regards to how people dine," notes Paul Bentel, FAIA, partner at Bentel & Bentel. The design team also focused on the details, making sure, for instance, that tables are high enough to accommodate carry-on luggage underneath (as opposed to beside a table where it may clutter wait staff circulation).

Aesthetically, the designers looked to the past. "We took inspiration from plane travel of the 1940s and '50s when it was considered a luxury and was quite exciting," says Nagle. In addition to studying old airplanes, the patterns planes make in the sky, and flying accessories like leather goggles and helmets, the team also considered apparatuses like boomerangs. These aerodynamic forms are translated throughout the space in the shape of the banquettes, the artwork over the bar, and accessories like a large plane wing that is suspended over the dining area. The wing canopy serves more than a decorative purpose: it houses a good chunk of the restaurant's lighting and also helps anchor the space within the grand scale of the terminal itself, which features soaring ceiling heights. "Our ceiling is the terminal roof so the challenge was how to create an intimate restaurant scene when you don't have a traditional black box to work with, when, in fact, you have just the opposite," notes Bentel.

Also of concern was airport security, which required the majority of the restaurant's components to be constructed off-site, and British Airports Authority (BAA) requirements regarding sustainable materials. "There was a high standard for energy efficiency and the use of sustainable materials," Bentel says. "The entire palette had to be reviewed by BAA and had to be green. The wood came from sustainable yield forests. We were limited in the use of plastics. There is no incandescent lighting, and the budget put constraints on LED use so the major lighting is HID, and two-stage lighting provides two scenes. That was a real challenge and had to do with restrictions from the BAA on watts per square foot."

Despite the challenges and restrictions, the results receive sky-high marks from all involved. "When you're there, you wouldn't know you were in an airport, which I think is quite clever and also quite rare," says Gillies. "You know," he adds, "people think that being associated with Gordon Ramsay means the dining experience will be two things: expensive and slow. Here it looks high-end, but it's not slow. We want people to leave thinking 'Hey, that was great. I've never eaten like that in an airport before.'"


who
Project: Gordon Ramsay Plane Food. Client: Gordon Ramsay Holdings. Architect
of Record: BCA London. Interior designer, lighting designer:Bentel & Bentel. General contractor: Pell Interiors. Food service consultant: Berkeley Projects. Photographer: Ben Anders.
 
what
Flooring: Stargate. Ceiling Canopies: Barisol. Stone: Granite. Dining chairs: Cassina. Lounge/cocktail seating, banquette opposite  bar, credenzas, greeter stand: Bentel & Bentel. Bar Stools: Gubi.
 
where
Location: Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5, England. Total floor area: 430 sq. m. No. of floors: 1. Total capacity by tables or guests: 180.