THE CHALET
YEAR 2018
TYPOGOLOGY Restaurant
LOCATION Vancouver
INSTRUCTOR Bill Pechet
TYPOGOLOGY Restaurant
LOCATION Vancouver
INSTRUCTOR Bill Pechet
A hole in the wall. A hidden gem. A secret clubhouse where all are welcome, if they can find it!
Obscure from the outside but cozy within, The Chalet architecturalizes what makes your favourite local hang out — that one the tourists don’t know about — so special. Located in Vancouver’s West End, it plays on the sense of a shared secret, the space feeling all the more special because it’s so difficult to find. The only outwards hint the plain box gives to its function is a gabled window projection facing Alberni Street, from which it’s completely inaccessible. To get in you must make the journey around the block and down a back alley to find the unmarked structure sitting in a laneway parking space....
Once inside, you see an industrial staircase with a strange light flickering down from above. You follow the sounds of conversation up the stairs only to be confronted with a blank wall. Turn one hundred and eighty degrees around the corner and finally you come to a large communal table, pots of fondue warming in the middle above gas flames, the only light source in the space. You join the other dinners, now part of their unspoken club. The oversized table, window, and room make you feel small, but the warm light bathing the friendly faces conjures a safe sense of belonging.
