Chicago Rare by AvroKO: Official Interior Project
A broad arch opens onto a corridor of red walls, pale stone and a sharply patterned floor at Chicago Rare. The view makes the restaurant’s attention to thresholds immediately clear. Designed by AvroKO at Four Seasons Resort and Residences at The Pearl-Qatar in Doha, the project was introduced by the hotel in April 2024. Its references draw together Chicago’s Prohibition era, Art Deco and the work of Louis Sullivan. Natelee Cocks’s photographs show those ideas taking shape through repeated arches and changes in material density. [1] [2] [3]
A route through warm light and geometric surfaces
The entrance keeps the centre of the view open while giving the edges considerable weight. The arch has a thick pale surround, the red walls sit back, and the floor’s zigzag pattern pulls the eye toward the far end. Rectangular ceiling lights repeat along the route. Curved and angular forms remain distinct but aligned, creating a procession that can be read before the larger dining room comes into view. [3]
At the bar, a large copper form recalls a distilling vessel, one of the references identified by the designers. Green stools gather around its base beneath an arched window of patterned glass. Bottles occupy the lower part of the opening, so the display becomes part of the window composition. Higher in the main room, AvroKO’s backlit Corten-steel bridge introduces another Chicago reference, extending a long horizontal line through the taller volume. [1] [3]
The booth as a small architectural unit
Red leather banquettes form the most continuous colour at seated height. In one dining view, parallel rows face each other beneath large, many-sided light fittings. An ornamented glazed screen gives the back of the arrangement a deep, layered surface. The repeated tables make the room orderly without flattening it: pendant edges, chair backs and banquette tops establish several different lines across the same view. Each group is held within the larger decorative frame. [1] [3]
Another wall combines closely arranged framed pictures with timber panels and a long upholstered bench. Here the enclosure is more domestic, with the pictures bringing small individual objects into a broad red field. A close photograph of a curved timber chair shows how much of the room’s texture is carried by furniture. Below, the parquet continues between the seating groups, providing a quieter pattern than the stone around the bar. [1] [3]
A softer ceiling in the Pergola
The Pergola changes the overhead character. Gathered striped fabric forms repeated shallow curves above the tables, accompanied by hanging foliage and clusters of round lights. Terracotta-coloured surfaces and green upholstery keep the palette connected to the rest of the restaurant, but the ceiling is lighter in appearance and more finely divided. AvroKO describes this area through Mediterranean garden references. In the photographs, its rhythm comes from the close succession of textile folds and suspended globes. [1] [3]
Arches recur at the entrance, behind the bar and within decorative screens, while the furniture varies the degree of enclosure around each table. Copper, leather, glass and fabric bring separate textures to that consistent geometry. The restaurant’s historical references become most persuasive at these junctions, where a broad architectural shape meets the smaller objects and surfaces around a seated diner. [3]
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