le come together, where stories are being told, where performances take place, and where food merges with the notions of entertainment and culture. It is an innovative platform that can integrate and resonate with diverse local contexts throughout the world.” The restaurant puts a spotlight on the presentation and preparation of the food created by Dean & DeLuca’s culinary team. A release issued by the group reads: “Stage is a pristine, magical object which acts as a dramatic backdrop for food, staff, and the choreography of preparing and assembling its delicacies. It comprises two horizontal volumes of mirrored stainless steel, one floating above the other and containing an undulating topography of white corian that cradles beautifully crafted dishes and fresh ingredients. “Dean & DeLuca Stage is a freestanding object that allows people to circulate around it as they interact with the staff and watch their food being prepared. The sculpted countertop conceals and integrates the complex, custom-made technology to preserve and prepare the food, in a piece of precision engineering.” The Dean & DeLuca Stage concept was first presented at Design Miami/2016, representing Scheeren’s interest in shared and communal space, and the ability of architecture to bring people together and explore new possibilities and qualities of social interaction, whether in large-scale developments or more intimate interior projects. The development was overseen by OS Development, a New York-based project-management and design-execution firm working with Buro Ole Scheeren, which has recently completed numerous high-profile projects, many of them in Asia. “I conceived Stage as a social magnet, as a spectacular futuristic showpiece that attracts and brings people together and encourages interaction between the people making and the people consuming food,” says Scheeren. “In this way it has a fundamental social and human ambition.” Dean & DeLuca is owned by Pace Corporation.